Inviolate
by scriviner
Summary: Someone messed with Luthor's mind. Someone was going to pay. A mystery that slowly unveils a terrible secret within the DCU and Lex's response to what he finds. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Inviolate**  
by Scriviner  
_  
All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Witnesses are bad at actually describing how people look. Aside from broad generalities, they tend to be easily distracted by certain prominent features. Or lack of the same. Without certain distinctive traits that have become associated with a certain face, it's entirely possible for even a very famous one to be completely overlooked.

The man in the dingy grey room was one such. He had a face that had been plastered in households all over the country. Yet here he was, rendered artfully annonymous with nothing more than a wardrobe change and a few accessories. He was dressed in a threadbare, off-the-rack gray suit that had not been particularly stylish even when it had been new. Short, curly blonde hair framed aristocratic features that had a pinched, arrogant quality to them. His eyes were barely visible behind the tinted glasses he wore. He sat at one end of the table, fiddling impatiently with an out of date PDA and a micro-casette recorder. He had the look of someone who'd once been quite well-heeled, but was now rather down on his luck, but not quite willing to accept it yet.

After a few minutes a two men entered the room. One was in the uniform of a security guard. The taser and nightstick were prominently displayed and the patch on his shoulder declared that he worked for the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, his large gut declared his love of donuts and beer. The name patch, badly sewn onto the front of his shirt declared his name to be Earl.

The second man was dressed in gray slacks and a gray button up shirt, his face pale and bloodless. He had a fussy quality one tended to associate with the less social sort of academic and the thin glasses perched precariously on the edge of his nose only served to enhance that image. The man was painfully thin and exhibited the flinchingly tentative behavior the naturally bullied tended to display around natural bullies. Earl was one such natural bully and he could smell the fear pouring off the smaller man. The patch on the patient's shirt identified him as "Crane, J". His face was not quite so well known, but his natural features weren't what most people associated with him. His other face was hidden away in another part of the building and they didn't allow him to have it outside of therapy sessions. The bastards.

Earl nodded to the first man as he manhandled Crane into the other chair and bolted his manacles to the floor. "You sure you're gonna be okay with him, Doc? I mean he's skinny and all, but he gets feisty when he's riled up."

He flashed Earl the guard a quick and insincere smile before replying in a thick and unidentifieable Middle European accent, "Ya, I not rile up Professor Crane. He and I will talk and it will be good, ya?"

The guard shrugged, sufficiently satisfied by the man's near unintelligeble reply. "He gives you any trouble, we'll be watchin'," Earl pointed to the security camera on the ceiling that was aimed at the table. That said, Earl gave a grunt and walked out of the room.

The first man turned his smile onto Crane and extended a hand... then awkwardly withdrew it as he realized that Crane's hands were bolted in such a way as to keep him from raising them to the level of the table. "It is great honor to meet you, Professor Crane."

The academic gave the other man a puzzled glance before replying. "I'm still not certain why you wanted to meet with me, Doctor-- I'm sorry, I don't know how to pronounce your name."

With a cheery laugh he tossed out a business card from one pocket and said, "Is pronounce Oooshel. The other L is silent. Although I know so much of your work, I feel as if we are practically collegues. You may call me Thor, if you do not mind that I call you Jonathan, ya?"

Crane eyed the business card before him. The name was spelled out clearly enough. Beneath that it said, "Psychiatrist and Author".

"I'm still not entirely clear why you wished to speak to me."

"Oh, I thought my secretary explained! You are... how to say... very big man in my native Markovia."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Ya!" Thor continued enthusiastically, tapping his thumb idly on his PDA in a twitchy gesture. "Professor Jonathan Crane of Gotham city! The infamous Scarecrow! Sowing terror and harvesting fear! You have many a fan in my country."

Professor Crane gave a snort of derisive laughter, "You're not serious? There's enough misguided souls idolizing myself and other criminals here in the US, you mean to say I have fans in Europe as well?"

"Ya, ya! Something about Scarecrow image... eh... how to say... resonate with Markovian psyche. You are very, very big. I would like to write your definitive biography for my countrymen! And women!" He added the last with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"Well... I suppose an interview wouldn't be too onerous." Crane preened, a smirk had begun to develop on his face. "You have a very familiar face, though, Doctor Oooshel," he pronounced the name carefully sounding each vowel out.

"Ah, I have one of those faces, Professor Johnathan! And it is Thor, please! Maybe you saw me recently on the Colbert Report promoting my last book, 'Face of Fear'? Is about the Joker--"

Crane leaned back, feeling suddenly defensive. "So this is just a follow up to your Joker book?"

"No, no, no! That one was just because publisher wanted it. Is not a piece that speaks to me, not like you, Professor Johnathan! He is clown. Everyone hates clowns. Easy to be scary. You scare with class!"

The thinner man seemed to be molified, but he still looked as though he was going to be prickly. "I suppose."

"Ya, ya. Is all good. So, you mind if I ask questions? Just a few to start with, then we can maybe make formal arrangements for something more comfortable, ya?"

"I... yes, I believe that could be acceptable... Thor." The thinner man was smiling, becoming more at ease with the wildly enthusiastic European. "What did you wish to know?"

"Ya, ya... I have notes on PDA..." he proceeded to tap on it a few more times, squinting thoughtfully before smiling. "Ya, here. All the basics is matter of public record. The abuse when younger, the incident with the gun in the classroom and all that, ya? Here is question, you were known to be studying fear. That is clear, yes... but we wonder where did fear toxin come from?"

Crane, the Scarecrow, gave the man a puzzled glance. "What do you mean, 'where did it come from'?"

"Exactly that, Professor Jonathan." Thor said, dropping his voice, "Formula for fear toxin has been analyzed many times. Phobiline Hydrochorate is... how say... beautiful piece of bio-chemistry. Bonds with receptors in amygdala, heightens R-complex derived fear responses for specified period before body breaks it down and when used correctly can even be used to scare people to death."

"Indeed, it is." Crane preened once more, a superior smirk begining to develop upon his lips, "As everyone knows it was my invention."

"Ya, that is what everyone knows, what everyone says." The European's voice had lost it's cheerfully manic edge, growing cooler and deeper. "Which is what I find very strange Professor Jonathan. You are a psychiatrist by training, a specialist in the human mind. Not the human brain. You do not have any training in biochemistry, nor neurochemistry? You? You are a bright man, but the one who developed the fear toxin is a genius. It is clearly not you."

Crane's voice became frosty, "I believe this interview is over." He looked over his shoulder and began shouting, "Guard! I want to leave now!"

Thor slammed his free hand against the table, causing Crane to startle. "No." The voice was no longer happy nor thickly accented. The only accent left was a faint bit of upper crust Bostonian, but barely a hint. Just a touch. The voice was cold and whatever warmth had been in the room seemed to have fled. "I need an answer from you, Crane."

"The guards can see and hear us, you idiot." Crane hissed smugly, "They'll be through that door at any moment."

The man gave a hearty laugh. Very different from 'Thor's' earlier boisterous laughter. This was mocking and derisive, telling the Scarecrow exactly what the owner of the laugh thought of his statement. "Arkham Asylum recently upgraded their surveilance systems to a purely digital setup, which while technically more secure, is also much more vulnerable to someone smart enough." He held the PDA up, shaking it idly, "Our conversation for the past couple of minutes was mostly just to give us enough video so that I can loop it. The guards cannot see, nor hear into this room."

"Who are you?!" Crane demanded.

"Come now... surely you've realized it. I practically... heh... spelled it out for you." He pointed at the business card on the table.

The thinner man stared. The card had not changed at all. "Dr. Thor Ulxel." How was that-- then it suddenly struck him.

He wasn't quite into puzzles as some of the other Gotham rogues were, but this was so blatant that it should have been obvious to anyone if they'd paid attention. The shock and surprise were still prominent, but now he was intrugued. The elaborate ruse to get in here with him was somewhat flattering, but now he really had to know what was going on. Crane gave a sharp, barking laugh of self-mockery.

The man flashed a pleasant smile at him as the glasses and other accessories of his diguise were stripped away. He ran a hand over his smooth, bare scalp to wipe away the sweat that had acumulated under the wig. "I still need my question answered, Crane. Where did the fear toxin formula come from?"

"I already told you, that I developed it!" Crane blustered, but it was hollow now. This wasn't some nameless fool posturing. Crane knew who he was speaking with.

"No," the man in the threadbare suit snapped. "Even if I didn't have a lie detector tucked into my shirt pocket, you're just not very convincing, Crane. The facts don't add up. The key ingredient in your fear toxin has always been the phobiline hydrochorate. Every other refinement you've made to it has just been to tweak the secondary effects. The mix of hallucinogens and narcotics that you deliver with it, but not the keystone of your fear toxin. You only know how to make it one way, you have no clue how to modify it further and frankly, you're afraid to." He hissed the last word and slammed his hand down hard on the table once more, forcing the already tightly wound Crane to startle. "Where did you get the formula for phobiline hydrochorate?"

"I came up with it on my own!"

"No, no... that's not the right answer." the man formerly known as Thor said sadly. "You know how I run things, don't you Crane? I'm a firm believer in the carrot and the stick. Those who help me are rewarded, those who do not get punished."

The Scarecrow of a man essayed a mocking laugh. "I'm already in Arkham, good sir, there's not much you can really threaten me with now, is there?"

The look he flashed the Crane exposed his full contempt for a moment, only a moment before his expression smoothed out into an exagerated calm. "Tell me, Crane, did you ever watch James Bond movies?" As he spoke his hand dipped into his pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a lighter.

"Eh? What're you talking--" the sudden shift in the tone and topic caught him off guard.

"I used to love watching them, if only because of Q. Frankly I couldn't've cared less for Bond." The lighter was brought near the micro-casette recorder and with a 'click' was suddenly combined into a single piece. He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and pressed the tip against another portion of that combination, creating a hissing noise which resulted in the pen's incorporation into the object. "Ever watched 'The Man with the Golden Gun'?" he continued conversationally.

"No! I didn't have time for that sort of distraction."

"Well, if you had you might've realized what I was doing." He gave the pen's cap a slight twist, which resulted in it opening up into a two inch wide parabolic dish. The whole construction looked vaguely gun-like, but more in a sci-fi movie prop sort of way. He aimed the tiny parabolic dish at Professor Crane and said, "Last chance, Scarecrow."

"I did it, if you would just lis--" he began to say, but he was interupted by the sudden impulse of high pitched sound, tearing through the air. The agony that slammed through his skinny body was unbearable. One moment he was fine, albeit alarmed, annoyed and more than a little frightened of the man before him. The next, his head was on the table, his ears were ringing and he could feel blood seeping out of his nose. Every nerve was raw and pained. His breath came in ragged gasps as he forced himself to look up at his tormentor.

"This is a sonic pulse disruptor. It has ten intensity settings." The man was smiling cruelly down at him. The very picture of affable gentility. The tone of voice made him sound like he was pitching for an infomercial and that just made him feel worse. "You've just been hit by a level one, Professor sonic energy disrupts your ears and rattles your brain badly enough that your brain has to spread the pain around just so you can deal with it. If I'd kept it on you any longer you'd no doubt be suffering from a concussion."

He glanced down at the little gun-like disruptor and flicked the marked dial which was the casette recorder's volume setting, before continuing in a more conversational tone. "I've never actually hit anyone with it at level ten, but I tried it on a steak once. Vibrated the thing so hard the meat not only cooked to medium rare, but I ended up with quite possibly the most tender cut of beef you could imagine as the connective tissues and bones were practically liquified." A grusomely amused grin crossed the man's face. "I could cut it with a plastic fork. Can you imagine what it would do to a human body?"

"I..." Crane panted, unable to catch his breath around the pain, his vision had gone blurry and his hearing was echoing. "I suppose that must be the stick."

"Indeed. It's also the carrot. Because at level five it pulverises concrete and steel." He pointed the disruptor at the floor, "Below this meeting room is the laundry, which according to Arkham's duty rotation schedules is currently empty. Below that is the sewer line that runs all the way to the city one way... and out to Gotham harbor at the other end."

"They'd catch me in no time. Your carrot is not very appetizing." Crane tried to sneer, but the effort almost made him throw up.

"If you went towards the city. If, on the other hand, you were to head to Gotham Harbor, there is an inflatable life raft with an outboard motor, a change of clothes and ten thousand dollars in small, non-sequential bills placed next to the open drainage pipe that you would be coming out of." He flashed another grin, "Is that more appetizing now?"

"I... yes, actually."

"Good. Now, my question." He inclined his head, waiting for the answer.

Emotionally drained, Crane could only stare at the man, "Why do you want to know?"

He brandished the disruptor threateningly. The genial tone was gone, his voice was cold again. Distant and serenely willing to inflict massive pain. "Did you want a closer inspection of the stick, dear professor?"

"No, it's just... this is clearly important to you. I need to know why you need to know before I can tell you." Crane's gaze firmed. "I will not budge. Kill me if you must, but I need to know why." Despite the pain and wooziness his eyes glittered at the scent of something just at the edge of his perception. "Tell me why this scares you." Crane's own voice dropped, taking on the scraping, raw quality that only rarely came out of his throat when he did not have his face with him.

'Thor' gave an exhasperated sigh. "If you really must know, I believe someone exposed me to fear toxin... or a more refined derivative about twenty five years ago. Then again fifteen years ago and once more a few months ago."

That was clearly not what Crane had expected. "What?"

"Yes, well before your claim to 'inventing' something that you don't have the skills to produce." He sneered.

"Several months ago..." Crane pressed, "You mean when you went crazy on national television and--"

The man glared, "Yes. That incident."

"I'm surprised you didn't claim that to keep yourself from getting impeached." Crane gloated.

"I didn't know at the time. Everyone assumed it was the other drugs that made me act that way." He gave a snort, "We had no reason to check for fear toxin. The impeachment didn't succeed anyway, I simply had to 'retire' for health reasons."

Crane's eyes widened as the implications, "Someone used fear toxin to push you out of the White House."

"Yes."

"On those other days you were exposed, I suspect other key events that shaped you happened as well?" Crane asked pushing, trying to find some sort of advantage for himself.

"Yes." The man answered coolly, face tightly controlled. "Fifteen years ago was when I first heard of Superman. Twenty five years ago was when my parents died."

"Intriguing," Crane murmurred. "But how can you be sure?" Crane asked. The headache still would not receed, but his interest was truly piqued now.

"This is not idle guesswork on my part, Crane. I found the micro-scarring on my amygdala consistent with a massive exposure to fear toxin."

"How did you--"

"It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, I didn't have anything better to do, I was working on a new form of teleportation. One of the offshoots of that research allows me to get microscopically precise scans of anything, even through solid matter."

"So you stumbled upon it by accident while... making a teleporter?"

"A man needs his hobbies." He shrugged.

"The microscarring isn't a completely reliable marker." Crane argues, "Other drugs and conditions result in--"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? I did a biopsy of the scar tissue and found traces of a refined version of phobaline hydrochorate. Slightly different chemical signature. More refined. A long term version rather than the quick and dirty stuff that you produce."

"You... biopsied your own brain?" He stared.

"It's simple if you have the tools. I already had a teleporter handy." He shrugged. "I think I've indulged you enough, though. I want to know who you got your formula from so that I can find out why they exposed me to it. Does that sound clear enough?"

Crane almost looked as though he would laugh, despite the pains in his head. "Oh my, yes. Yes indeed. I can understand why you would be so adamant about finding out about this. You think someone is using a chemical like my fear toxin to steer your life around."

"And that is completely unacceptable," he said grimly. "You don't think it's likely?"

"I only have your word that you found those traces Luthor. If you were anyone else, I'd say you belong in here more than I do." He finally let out a single harsh bark of a laugh then regretted it immediately as his headache redoubled.

"Are you satisfied with this information?" He finally asked the slumped over Crane.

He managed a mutter, "Yes, yes... I suppose so. You must swear to me that no one will know of what I tell you?"

"You still think you're in a position to dictate terms to me?"

"No, but I beg you... I implore you... the fear toxin is... I have made it mine. I cannot stand the thought that people would be thinking that I took it from elsewhere."

"Fine. Where did you get it from?"

"A folder in the deep stacks in Gotham University. It looked like it had been mixed up with several other files, like someone had misplaced it. It was listed as the tenth in a series of twelve folders on psychoactive chemical studies. The date on it was 1941."

"Did you find any of the other folders?"

"No. When I checked the section where one would've expected them to be at, there was nothing there. It's obvious someone took the rest of the files away at some point, but these ones were misfiled and had gotten lost in the shuffle. The file detailed how to produce the fear toxin that I use, but it was obvious there were some further steps, but there were pages missing."

"But you had just enough information to cook your own batch of phobaline hydrochorate, but not the stronger stuff." He gave a snort. "Do you still have the file?"

"I lost it years ago. I already had the formula and production procedures memorized, so I didn't need it anymore."

"This doesn't exactly help me, Crane." He held the disruptor up thoughtfully, "I don't really feel like you're holding up your end of the bargain."

"Tyler!" Crane shouted, trying to bring his hands up to ward off the disruptor, but being pulled up short by his chains. "The folder was stamped 'top secret' by the US Army, but it also had the old logo for Tyler Chemicals!"

"Ah. Now that is useful. Thank you."

"So will you let me go now?" Crane asked hopefully.

The man reached for the wig, pulling it back onto his head and making certain that it was settled properly as he ostentatiously ignored the other man. "I would, but there's another side effect to the disruptor that I probably should have mentioned."

Crane stared in alarm. The headache was becomming blinding now. "Side effect?"

The man pulled the glasses back onto his face and began to disassemble the gun-like device.

"What are you doing?!"

"Preparing to leave." All the parts were slid back into various pockets.

"What side effect?!"

"Ya, well," disguise back in place, he spoke in that ridiculous accent once more, "Exposure to the disruptor at level one, especially if the shooter know what he is doing? Can really mess up your brain's ability to retain short term memories."

"What?"

"Ya, is interesting. Brain loses a few minutes just before getting hit and can barely remember anything for a few minutes after." He grinned, glancing down at his watch, "Isn't that funny, ya?"

"Isn't what funny?" Crane asked, now agitated and confused. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten here or who the man in the bad suit was. His head hurt and no one would tell him what was happening.

The faux European laughed uproariously and tapped the control on his PDA that cut off the video loop on the surveilance camera. "You are, Professor Johnathan! You are a laugh riot!"

"Why are you laughing at me?! Who are you?! What's going on!"

He called up to the camera, "Guard! I need out! He is... he seems to be having a psychotic break!"

In very little time, the door swung open, with Earl brandishing his taser threateningly at poor, confused Johnathan Crane. "Doc, I tolja he got feisty when he's riled up?"

"It was very strange! One moment we were chatting well, the next he insists he doesn't remember me!"

"I demand to know what's going on?!" Crane shouted, only to have his query turn into a scream as Earl poked him with the taser.

"You behave, Crane!" Earl cried out distracted by the opportunity for a little fun with an unruly patient. "I'm sorry bout this Doc."

"Is fine, is fine. I got enough to start on book, I will see myself out, ya?"

"Sure thing, Doc! One of the other guards'll help you."

Whistling a jaunty tune, sounds of violence happening behind him, 'Thor' let himself out of Arkham Asylum. Signing the papers that needed signing, moving past the guards and doctors and most of all the apologetic Dr. Arkham himself.

At the main entrance, he was met by an attractively statuesque redhead wearing a chauffer's uniform. She opened the back door to the large black sedan beofre she moved around it to slip into the driver's seat with practiced confidence.

"Did you find out what you were looking for, sir?" She asked in a pleasant alto.

He discarded the wig and the glasses on the seat next to him. He closed his eyes for a moment, before he massaged the bridge of his nose. Those glasses pinched. He leaned forward and made himself a highball from the mini-bar. "I've found another possible piece, Mercy. We'll have to see where it leads us."

The woman glanced up, meeting his steady gaze in the rear-view mirror, "Sure thing, Mr. Luthor."


	2. Chapter 2

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 2**

_by Scriviner_

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars. _

_EDIT: This chapter has been edited so that it makes more sense in the context of US Patent Law. Much thanks to Maximara for his assistance.  
_

He was no stranger to Metropolis City's Metro Room. The rich, the powerful, the famous and those who fell under all of the above came here. Lex Luthor certainly qualified for an 'all of the above' even if he was no longer President. Even though the company he'd built had been gutted and sold for scraps, if anyone deserved to be at the Metro Room, it was Lex. Since it opened in the ninties-- the 1890's-- it had been a second home to corporate sharks, robber barrons and wannabes of the same. The Metro Room's dining area had been used so often in the past for corporate wheeling, dealing and wining and dining that the management had discreetly installed Lexcorp made sound baffles that prevented sounds from passing between booths.

Back in the day, it had given Lex a great deal of amusement to listen in on those conversations, as no one knew that the sound baffle technology could also be used to record things for Lex's private use. The Metro Room had the pulse of Metropolis' business scene, and Lex had had his finger on that pulse. In fact, he'd put a needle into it and had bled it dry as much as he could. It felt strange to him to be here once again without Lexcorp backing him up.

For a change, he was here as a private citizen. Just Lex Luthor... former president Lex Luthor, granted, but he was not here as Lex Luthor, CEO of Lexcorp. He tugged lightly at the cuffs of his impecably tailored black suit and ran a hand over his smooth scalp, letting himself sink deeper into the rich, red leather of the booth's seats. The Metro Room had had their decor redone in the 80's changing from the lighter, elegant blonde woods to mahogany, gold trim and red leather. It was opulent, decadent and fairly screamed money. When a cup of coffee cost more than a meal at lesser dining establishments and the lunch entrees ran into the high three figures, there was no way the decor would not be up to scratch. The menus had no prices. If one had to ask about the cost of a menu item in the Metro Room, one clearly should be eating elsewhere. The Maitre'd was quick to invite such a boor to take their business down the street to the local Denny's.

He rose to his feet at the approach of his lunch-time appointment. The woman, dressed in a well-tailored beige power suit, seemed just a tiny bit intimidated by her surroundings. Her purse matched her shoes in that they were expensive, but not excessively so and quite understated for the surroundings. She was doing an excellent job of covering it up, but Luthor's practiced eye picked up on her discomfort. A slight flinch, a tiny bit of terror in her eye that was her asking herself how she'd gotten there. Not just of the rich surroundings, but of him. That was just perfect, he mused, favoring her with a perfectly white, shark-like smile. He wanted her just a bit off-balance. Just a little bit off her game. The Metro Room gave him home court advantage. The Maitre'd showed her to his booth and bowed away elegantly, unobtrusive and efficient.

"Miss Tyler," Lex greeted her smoothly. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

She dimpled prettily and tried to smile back. There was a bit of a kid at play behind that smile. She was an attractive brunette, pale-skinned and just a tiny bit too skinny to be healthy. Someone who skipped too many meals and lived on her nerves and coffee. "It's my pleasure, Mr. Luthor, but please call me Rebecca."

"Rebecca it is, then." He responded, still smiling, and helping her into her seat, "Call me Lex. I took the liberty of ordering our drinks and a few apetizers. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, Mr-- I mean, Lex."

He gave a nod the the attentive waiter who stood near the booth. The young man swept in silently, bearing a green glass bottle of red wine that he poured into a pair of wine glasses. They raised their glasses to one another before Rebecca took a tentative sip. Lex gave his glass the full benefit of a wine connoisour's treatment. Swirling it and inhaling the rich fragrance before taking a small taste.

The woman's eyes widened. "That's amazing. I don't think I've ever had anything like it."

"I doubt you would have," he replied casually, "It's a twenty eighty-six Javitz. Only a single barrel was ever found."

"Did you say twenty?"

"Yes. The bottle turned up back in 1986 at the Javitz monastary in Spain. A single oak barrel had appeared in the middle of a root cellar. No wine had ever been brewed at Javitz before. The barrel was so large as to have been impossible to carry into the cellar's small door. The label said that the wine was placed in the barrel in September third, twenty eighty six. The Abbot suspected that it was God's way of telling them to get into the wine-making business. A few physicists have actually examined the wine and found an unusually high concentration of chronoton particles, indicating that the wine did in fact do some time travelling."

"That's amazing."

"It also happens to be a terribly good wine. Supposedly the chronoton particles are undetectable by the human palette, but more than one drinker has claimed to be able to taste hints of their next meal in the wine." He chuckled, "I think it's all the power of suggestion, but you never know."

"This is obviously a very expensive wine, Lex."

"I won't insult you by telling you how expensive."

She smiled at him, tighter now, a little more guarded. She'd gotten over her bedazzlement at Luthor and the Metro Room and his terribly good wine. "As flattering as all this is, Lex, I do have to wonder why you're lavishing me with this attention."

He smiled winningly over his wine glass, treating her to a faux-smoky glare full of flirtation. "You mean you don't think I'm doing this just for your company?"

A suppressed snort escaped her lips. It would've been a laugh, but she'd caught it in time. "You used to regularly date supermodels. Your ex-wife was a contessa and considered one of the most beautiful women of the 90's. I clean up nicely, but not that nicely."

He straightened up, dropping the flirtation, but still wearing elegant dignity like a familiar coat. "I'll admit, I am trying to soften you up somewhat, but it is for something that would benefit us both, immensely."

"I'm listening."

Just then their server returned, bearing a multitude of tiny plates with a dizzying variety of tiny morsels of food. "I wasn't quite certain what would be to your taste, so I ordered a little bit of everything." He reached out, plucking an amuse bouche of fennel and savory bits delicately between thumb and forefinger. "We'll have time enough to talk business after we eat. Hopefully you'll let me get away with more then." He winked at her.

They ate in silence for a while. Business forgotten and what conversation there was limitted itself to the polished, polite small-talk of big business and the occassional delighted exclamation of pleasure at the delicious food.

Lex leaned back finally, patting his lips clean after polishing off the last of his dessert, a brownie-a-la-mode drowning in caramel. The silently efficient server brought black coffee out for both of them. "It has been too long since I ate here last." He remarked with deep and abiding satisfaction.

She was still working on licking her spoon absolutely clean, eyes rolled back ecstatically over what was possibly the most incredible cheesecake she had ever tasted. "Lex, if you were trying to put me into a good mood to hear your pitch, it worked." She sighed happily, setting the spoon down. "So, to business. What can I do for you? Or rather what can TylerCo do for you?"

"As you're no doubt aware, LexCorp is essentially no more." Lex said, steepling his hands across his stomach as he took lounged back.

"I'd heard." She ventured cautiously.

"Yes, somehow Wayne got his hooks into Ms. Head," he pronounced it properly, making it rhyme with 'steed'. "And managed to pretty much sell him my entire company while I was busy being President." He treated her to a wry, sardonic look. "I should be resentful, but honestly, it's actually freed me up to work on some other pursuits."

"What would those be?"

"I'm sure you can understand how stressful and time consuming running a corporation is, Rebecca."

She flashed a small grin, "TylerCo can be a handful sometimes. Business is picking up, though."

"I'm certain it is. I understand you're finally managing to pull out of the slump you've been in."

"Things are better." She murmurred, just a tiny bit defensive. He knew perfectly well how much of a 'slump' TylerCo had been in. Until she'd taken over for her drug-addled cousin when his father had died, the company had been hemoraging money. "We're actually starting to expand again."

"That's wonderful." He responded enthusiastically. "And I would hate any sort of negative publicity to touch on that."

"I beg your pardon?" The hint of defensiveness was now fully formed. The earlier pleasure of her meal, being erased by her slowly rising alarm.

"Sorry, I lost track. As I was saying, I have more free time now. No pressures, less worries... I've finally gotten a bit more time in the lab lately and I'd stumbled across a fascinating potential application for a derivative of an existing compound."

She sipped the bitter coffee and made a small face at it before responding, "And did you need our help to develop it further?"

"Oh, not at all. I've already managed the development fine on my own. In fact I was ready to swing into full production. Unfortunately, there were some strange issues revolving around the ownership of the patent that's making things difficult for me." He admitted.

"Please, go on. I'm still not quite hearing the part about how I can help you out."

"Well, I suppose I should just come out and say it... Professor Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, fellow from Gotham? I'm sure you've heard of him."

"Yes, a supervillain." She said dismissively, "Fights Batman, I think. He scares people, right?"

"Yes, he uses a blend of various narcotics, hallucinogens and psychoactive drugs into something he calls his fear toxin. I've found a cheap procedure for manufacturing vast amounts of phobaline hydrochorate, the active ingredient in fear toxin. Pennies on the gallon for a chemical that's effective in doses of under a microgram."

"You want us to manufacture for you?" She asked in surprise and suspicion. "What use would it be? I mean, besides being a terror weapon."

"Well, combined with the delivery system I've developed, this could be the next tear gas. Imagine it," He leaned forward, letting enthusiasm color his voice. "The perfect non-lethal deterrent. Tear gas, knock out gas, regurgitants and all those other aerosol based discouragement systems have various risks associated with them. Someone's allergic, the results are messy, people are still getting hurt... Foam based detention systems are messy and slow. Fear toxin is non-toxic, fast-acting, breaks down harmlessly inside those exposed within a few minutes. You can adjust the dose on the same grenade to make targets run away or stay in one spot, cowering in terror or even induce fainting. Best of all, there's already an antidote that's widely available that can be taken ahead of time to keep the police from being affected by their own fear toxin."

"Based on the Scarecrow's formula," she responded dubiously. "I'm not sure how well that would sell... and even if it did, wouldn't the Scarecrow have objections? Isn't he one of the crazy ones?"

"He's an interesting character," Lex admitted to Rebecca's wide-eyed surprise. "I've actually been communicating with a few police departments who have expressed tentative interest in doing a test run. Hub City, Central City, Keystone, DC... My people were actually in talks with Professor Crane to see if he'd owned the patent to it, and whether he'd be interested in selling the rights for manufacture. The whole venture has the chance to make all involved quite wealthy." Lex paused as he considered that statement then added with a playful grin. "Well, wealthier."

"So did he sell you the rights?"

"This is actually the part where you and TylerCo come into the picture, Rebecca. As it turns out, and I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this, but Professor Crane really was a crook. Right before we were to finalize the paperwork, one of my research people turned this up..." He reached into the briefcase he had next to him and produced a small folder. He passed it over to her.

Her brow furrowed prettily as she looked at the folder's contents. There were a half dozen stapled photocopied pages. The copies were off-center and the copier had been running low on toner, but there was just barely enough for it to be readable. "I'm not sure what you're showing me. These look like patent documents. These're stamped top secret." She looked up at him in alarm.

"The researcher, who has a cousin in the US Patent office, found it for us. It's a classified patent owned by the US Army, still currently sealed for national security purposes. Same as the original atom bomb patents."

She flashed a dubious glance at him. "Your researcher got this from his cousin?"

"That's what he told me." Lex returned in a neutral tone.

"Why are you showing this to me, then?" She asked.

"I have doubts about their authenticity. Named on the document under the original application and signing it as 'on behalf of the US Army', it says Bannermain Chemicals. The original name of what would later become Tyler Chemicals, now known as TylerCo." He paused significantly, while she found where it said that on the page. "This is where you come in, my dear."

"This doesn't make any sense, Mr L-- Lex. To my knowledge our company's never made this stuff. Also, if the patent is owned by the army, shouldn't you be approaching them?"

"I fully intend to, however, I need to make sure I have all my ducks in a row prior to that point. On the one hand, they allow Scarecrow to get away with creating and using the phobaline hypochorate, but he is just a lone murderous lunatic. I'm certain they wouldn't want it getting around that his main weapon of choice was actually owned by Uncle Sam. On the other hand, I am planning on making large amounts of money with this. I'm certain they'd take a dim view on that and may try to prevent me from manufacturing after I've sunk more resources into the project. Even with my friends in DC, I'm reluctant to start calling in favors so soon after my brush with impeachment."

She was silent for a long moment as she looked the papers over more closely. "This application was for 1941. Wouldn't the patent ownership have run out in the sixties? I doubt they could go after you on that basis."

"Normally, but as I said, it's still classified. They could try to get me under breaking National Security. I'm certain my lawyers would be better than theirs, I'd rather not get embroiled in that if I can avoid it. Too much time and money wasted if that were to happen."

"What did you want me to do then?"

"I need to confirm if this patent is true. If TylerCo, in its previous incarnation was responsible for the original formula. Discreetly, of course."

She ran her fingers through her hair, "I don't know Lex. This sounds suspiciously like you're trying to get me in the middle of a legal battle for patent rights in something that my company's most certainly not involved in."

"This isn't entirely for my benefit, either. If it turns out that TylerCo finds evidence that they invented the original fear gas, I'll be more than happy to assist you in any way you need to keep that information well buried."

"Why would we need to do that?"

"Well, first of all imagine the potential for public backlash. Perhaps the rest of the country might not react too much, but in Gotham it would be like telling people you manufactured Zyklon-B for the Nazis."

"Surely it wouldn't be that bad!"

"The only way it would be worse would be if people were told that you made Joker's Smilex for him." Lex said gravely. "The bigger problem actually wouldn't be with regards to your company perception, but from the Scarecrow himself."

"A lone crazy wearing rags and straw." she snorted.

"A very clever murderous psychopath who has always claimed that he invented the fear toxin. What do you think his reaction would be if it got out that someone might be stealing his thunder as it were?"

She ended up covering her eyes as she leaned forward tiredly. "This opens TylerCo to all sorts of problems." Her lip quirked slightly. "I suppose I should be glad you waited until after the meal to bring this up."

"I apologize if it seems that I'm the one putting you in this position, but I do need your help," Lex reached a hand out and lightly took one of Rebecca's hands in his. "I don't know anyone else I could turn to. Aside from the one researcher, I haven't been able to get independent confirmation on this. For some reason my contacts in the patent office have frozen me out. People I could ask favors from in DC haven't been taking my calls." His eyes were pleading. "I just want you to see if TylerCo has any records of the PTHC manufacturing process that would let us coroborate that patent information. I'd owe you a huge favor."

She flushed slightly and glanced down at his hand, finding herself squeezing back on his fingers almost involuntarily. "I... I don't know..."

"Ahh, Rebecca... this is what business is about. You see problems, I see an opportunity." Lex leaned forward, bringing his face closer to her and dropping his voice to an intimate whisper. The sound baffles built into the booth reduced all background noise to a seamless murmur and Lex's voice, soft as it was seemed to be the loudest thing around. "Confirm for me if the patent is legitimate, one way or another, and you will not only have my undying gratitude, but I might even be interested in bringing TylerCo in on this whole venture as a partner." Lex smiled winningly, "I can't give you very solid numbers at the moment, but take my word for it as a self-made millionaire, that this looks to be a good earner."

She smiled weakly at him, "That offer does sound tempting, Lex. You've blindsided me and I'm going to need a little time to have my own people look into all of this."

"That's fine," Luthor replied, waving negligently. "I'm in no rush, I have a few other projects that I need to work on. Keep in mind, though-- Crane was expecting to hear back from my lawyers this week. Obviously, we're reluctant now about making him any sort of offer and he might get curious as to what's causing the delay."

She stared at him, appalled. "I'll try to have an answer for you by tomorrow. The day after at the latest."

She stood and he rose as well. They exchanged handshakes and last minute pleasantries, but she was shaken and pale. Well, paler than she'd been when the meal had started, but she managed to make her way past the well-heeled, the rich and the extravagant with no incidents. A smirk playing on his lips, Lex negligently placed a few large, very large, bills on the table and took hold of the remnants of the Javitz bottle. It would be a shame to waste it considering the costs involved. He made his own way out of the Metro Room, only stopping at coat check to pick up the well tailored overcoat that he'd left there. He stepped out of the restaurant, lavishly overtipping the doorman who held the door for his sedan open.

Lex slipped into the back seat, leaning back as Mercy merged seamlessly into Metropolis' early evening traffic.

"How was dinner, sir?" She asked, meeting his gaze in the rear view.

"Exquisite," he said with a broad grin. "Things have gone well."

"If you don't mind my saying so, sir... this was a bit dangerous."

"You didn't mind when I was walking into a den of lunatics and murderers, but you think it's dangerous that I'd go out for some dinner?"

"You were in disguise then. This just seems reckless. This is your home town. If anyone's keeping surveilance on you, they'll have a clear shot. It's not like before when I had a LexCorp security team or the secret service to keep an eye on you. It's just me now." Her hands on the wheel gripped harder, the knuckles turning white.

"And don't think I don't appreciate your service, good Mercy." He replied extravagantly, raising the still open bottle of Javitz in salute. He'd managed to undo his tie and open a few buttons at his shirt collar.

"I'll admit that you do seem to be in a better mood, sir. Did she buy it?"

"She'll call me tomorrow." He said, looking out at the city. "That really wasn't the point of dinner, though." He took a slug from the bottle, savoring the sweet fruitness with just a touch of bitter tang at the tail end. A Javitz, he laughed to himself. They were absolute crap, but no one was really willing to point that out because of how expensive a bottle was. He felt a touch magnanimous. Poor Mercy did worry so about him, and he rarely had much of an opportunity to actually talk to anyone. At least no one whom he considered really worthwhile. Mercy was the help, but she was a great help and perhaps... she deserved to be let in on his thought process. She'd been with him long enough to read his moods. She knew he was up to something, but was too polite to bring it up.

"There's four different goals I had in setting up this dinner, Mercy. I do believe I've acomplished three and am halfway through with the last."

"Really, sir?" She asked politely. She hid a smile to herself. He was in a talkative and cheerful mood. Which was a change, but a good one. He'd been brooding too much since he got over his detox.

"The first is the most obvious. The surface one, inform the CEO of TylerCo about the phobaline tetrahydrochorate patent. Whatever happens, it gives us a little bit of leverage when trying to dig into their records for who the blend was commissioned for."

"But you faked those patent documents. TylerCo doesn't really own those patents since they weren't real in the first place"

"Yes, but she doesn't know that. The bogus patent number on those documents really is a classified one, so she won't be getting access to it anytime soon, so she'll be tearing through her own records in a hurry to try and find anything at all on the subject. It saves me the trouble of doing that sort of digging. The second is the one you've been concerning yourself over. I've put myself back in the public eye and made it abundantly clear that I know about the fear toxin."

Her brow furrowed slightly, "I'm sure you can understand why I'd be concerned."

"Yes, but so far, our only lead has been a sixty year old chemical formula. These people dosed me while I was serving in the White House. Someone got past or suborned my secret service detail, including stealthed Checkmate agents and you... and they exposed me to something that changed me from a man who had an 89% approval rating, bi-partisan congressional support and the admiration of most of the world. They turned that man into a delusional, paranoid psychotic who thought selling his only daughter to an alien robot and shooting himself up with radioactive steroids were good ideas." His voice had turned harsh and bitter. "They left me vulnerable and crippled and they tried to destroy me. They've been trying to destroy me since I was a child." His grip on the bottle had tightened ominously. "I want them to know I'm on to them. I want them to know that I'm after them. They made a mistake taking away so much from me. This wasn't an isolated incident, Mercy. It's been a conspiracy from my childhood to shape me into... something. They are a going concern, they're still out there and I think I worry them. I don't know what they're trying to do, but I'm going to find them and rip some answers loose." His voice was a snarl.

Mercy glanced up at the rear view, faintly worried about that mad gleam in her boss's eyes. He was never quite fully rational when he did that. Since his epiphany, strung out and delusional during his detox, he'd been worried constantly about his sanity, but she'd seen him the same way more than once over the years. Pure venomous hate and unbridled fury bursting to escape an expensive suit. This was a fury that would tear down heaven and rip open the gates of hell. Times like this he almost didn't seem to be just a man, but a force of nature wearing Armani, just begging to be unleashed. Usually it was the blue boyscout that triggered these rages, but his focus had shifted almost completely to these unknown assailants. She knew no fear, but when he was like this he... worried her. Just a little bit. She picked her words carefully, seeking to defuse her boss. "So you want them to know that you know."

He took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing himself to calm down. He couldn't afford to lose it. This was what they wanted. He would not give in. Lately, almost by reflex he'd found himself examining his every thought and movement wondering if it had been something they... the annonymous and terrifying they... had put in his head. Every fret, every hope, every dream. Someone had wanted him broken, humbled and under someone's thumb. He was Lex Luthor. They were deluded if they thought they'd broken him. He took another deep, cleansing breath, then a deep, long swig from the bottle. A drop escaped and marred his starched and pristinely white collar with a spot of red. "Yes, yes... that was goal two."

"Goal three, then?"

"Oh, that. That's the half-finished one. I wanted to see if I could bypass TylerCo's security without anyone noticing." He said letting his features relax back into calm repose.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, "From the Metro Room?"

"No, from my lab. I'll show you when we get there. I won't know for sure if I'm through until Miss Tyler gets back to TylerCo."

"And the fourth?"

"I wanted to have a really nice dinner. There's only so much pizza and tv dinners a man should have to take." He flashed her a naughty grin, savoring the annoyed and shocked surprise in his bodyguard's reflected eyes. "Never underestimate the power of the phrase, 'What's for dinner?' as motivation."

"As you say, sir." She murmurred back shaking her head slightly.

"I would've gotten you a doggie bag, but it was just so good, I couldn't help but finish everything." He added with a smirk and a chuckle.

"I'm sure I'll find a way to live with the disappointment, Mr. Luthor."


	3. Chapter 3

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 3**

_by Scriviner_

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

_EDIT: This chapter has been edited to better match up with the changes made in the previous chapter. Much thanks to Maximara for his assistance with these chapters. _

Once upon a time, home would have been the penthouse of LexCorp tower. Up until just recently, it was the White House. Now, home was far more humble. A reconditioned warehouse near the docks of the New Troy burrough of Metropolis, just at the edge of Suicide Slum and on the Hob's river docks. The neighborhood was just slightly on the unpleasant side, but was in the process of being bought up by real estate speculators intending to turn the area into another SoHo or Little Bohemia. Luthor's sedan didn't quite attract the attention it could have, considering how many trendy, artsy wannabees with more money than common sense would drive down to the area in their sports cars and SUVs in blatant defiance of the unsavory types that lived and hung out in the area. Then again, one quick introduction to Mercy's knuckle dusters and machine guns were more than enough to discourage all but the most suicidal of thugs.

Lex had spared no expense in outfitting the warehouse in such a way that it was one part celebrity crash pad, one part fortress and one part science lab. Every possible automation had been packed into the large open plan space to allow him to keep house with the absolute minimal staff. The minimal staff in question was Mercy Graves, and frankly she didn't do windows or dishes. Or any other sort of cleaning for that matter. Or cooking. Fortunately, Lex had dust repellent bullet-proof glass on the windows, a self-cleaning dish washer, a prototype Roomba that could climb walls and Domino's pizza on speed dial.

Security concerns had the warehouse in such a way that the car had to be inside the secure perimeter before he could exit the vehicle. Mercy hated that she was opperating solo now, but Lex had refused the Secret Service detail that he was entitled to for being a former president. At first it had just been his stubborn pride. He didn't want anyone watching him as he underwent Venom detox. It was a horrifically vulnerable time and the only person he'd trusted enough to see him in that state was Mercy. He didn't really trust her that far either but he had no choice. At the time, he wasn't coherent enough to remember to take his pants off before he went to the bathroom. Now, he'd simply gotten used to the privacy. This meant forgoing all the extra security. Low-profile body armor under his finely tailored suit and force-fields reinforcing his walls were enough as far as he was concerned. It was overkill for the local criminal element and the more obvious sort of assassin. Nothing else would really be enough for some of the other parties that might feel compelled to confront him. For them he had lawyers, Kryptonite and Mercy Graves.

She opened his door for him and he slouched out of the sedan at an easy pace. He pulled a keyfob remote from his pocket and sent the car down the elevator to the rest of the vehicle bays. Air filters worked overtime to scrub out the scent of exhaust from the climate controlled interior of Lex's home. A tap of another button lowered a robot arm from where it was folded in the ceiling down next to him. He shrugged out of his coat and passed it to the arm to be put away. Just because one did not have servants didn't mean one had to live like a bachelor again.

He made his way past the living area, moving directly for his laboratory space, Mercy trailing close behind. The lab space was comprised of a closed off area with a multitude of computers, engineering equipment and various mechanical arms, waldos and armatures. Although it appeared open, the slight shimmer in the surrounding air attested to a basic force-field isolating the area from the rest of the warehouse. Lex would have been more than willing to put in stronger containment measures, but this wasn't a lab where he would need to worry about biological or chemical contamination. The forcefields were mostly to contain the occassional explosion, in which case a flexible defensive setup was actually preferable.

The centerpiece of his lab at the moment was an area of white flooring, roughly twenty feet by twenty feet in size. Just a little off to the side was a mass of computers. At the corners of the white space were poles topped by strange electrical things that sparked and hissed, with wires coiling down their length. The tops of the poles were loosely connected by more wires, the whole sketching a cube twenty feet on each side.

Lex tugged his tie off entirely as he took a seat. He put the Javitz bottle that he was still carrying down next to the keyboard before he cracked his knuckles and stretched. He paused a moment with his fingers just above the keyboard looking to all the world like a maestro about to give the concert of his life. Mercy hid a small grin from Lex. Even a single person was enough of an audience for him to play to.

He began tapping at the keys, the LCD monitor before him came to life with characters streaming past almost too fast for the eye to follow. Which actually was kind of the point. Lex could have just as easily made a user friendly interface for his toy, but rendering everything in code as something only he could read was much more interesting.

"Behold," Lex intoned gravely as a white mist began to fill the area of white floor.

Mercy looked and was severely underwhelmed. "What exactly am I beholding?"

"This," Lex continued, ignoring his henchwoman's sarcasm, "Is the potentiality actuation nanoscopic event layer. As originally envisioned, this provides the primary basis for a spacial locus integration development event. A 'slide' if you will."

"So it's a slide." She responded, satisfied to play straight woman for the moment.

"No, it allows you to perform a slide. This is the panel." He pointed to the white space which was now filled in completely by the mist. "This is the latest revolution in teleportation. Or it will be once everything works. In the meantime it has a wonderful side effect which has brought us to our current point."

"Staring at a white cube, you mean?"

Lex tut-tutted her. "No imagination. Listen closely, my dear Mercy, for I am about to be terrifyingly brilliant and I will explain to you how."

She made a non-comittal grunt that seemed to convey that she was impressed. Mercy wasn't uneducated nor stupid by any stretch of the imagination. She was simply used to dealing with Lex. Most of the time she didn't even bother really listening to him, just picking up on keywords that would make it seem like she understood. He needed an audience and she'd been pressed into the role often enough. When his voice, normally mellow and smooth, picked up in pitch and he started yammering away like a demented chipmunk, she knew it was time for the nod and grunt. This was Lex in sciencey mode. She preferred him in businessman mode. He had more dignity that way.

"Now, old fashioned teleportation, isn't really teleportation. Even though the object or person is transmitted from one point to another without appearing to pass through the intervening space, it's usually accomplished by one of two ways, or some combination of the two. The easiest method is to simply side-step regular space, either through the use of a sub-dimentional shortcut or by manipulation of spacetime pass through higher dimentions, essentially bypassing the normal spacetime path. Those work rather well, except around tortured space, such as in the presence of those who can warp gravity or create massive sub-luminal particles, the other problem is how energy intensive these methods are. The other method involves converting matter into an energy stream which can be transmitted from one location to another just like any other broadcast. Theoretically this is simpler, but if you really think about it, the amount of energy in the average human body is staggering. The advantage is that it pays for itself, energy-wise. At the other end, what you trasmitted tends to lose an infinitesmal fraction of its mass to pay for the conversion and transmission and deconversion. This is what the Justice League uses in their teleporters and those basic armory teleportation designs I'd developed for Bloodsport. The main drawback is how much processing is involved in getting all the bits in the right places, since it's impossible to map out every atom of what you're transmitting due to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. There's a lot of interpolation and guesswork involved in even the most basic teleport. The other drawback is that for best results you'd usually have a transmission and a receiving station, because otherwise a purely sending station's going to eat up a ton of energy pushing the energy stream to the desired destination. This is not even mentioning how easy it is to disrupt a teleportation signal. A bit of atmospheric ionization and you end up with the equivalent of dropped packets in your signal. In a phone call that's static. In a teleport, that's the difference between success and arriving without your spleen."

Mercy stared. "I'm amazed anyone actually uses this sort of tech if it's so twitchy."

"This is precisely why the JLA can't just patent their teleporter designs and sell them off. The whole system is far too delicate and involved to be left in the hands of laymen."

"And your Sliding panel can?"

"Eventually. It works off of a different theoretical basis. I'm not warping space, nor am I trying to map out every particle in what I intend to move. I'm mapping out the spaces around the particles. The underlying substratum of information that defines existence. I found a way to peer into the hidden places of reality where God keeps the instruction manuals."

"So you're going to travel through it?"

"I won't need to. Once everything's working properly, with the Slide Panel I can rewrite space at the target location to superimpose myself there. I'll essentially be at both locations at once. Then if I so choose, I can have the mechanism null me out at one end or the other. True teleportation. No futzing about with matter streams or worries about being put together wrong, or bouncing around through hypergeometries. Clean and simple."

"But it's not quite working yet?"

"Almost there. I can transmit and retrieve microscopic scale objects, but the process tends to be accompanied by a lot of waste heat at both ends as matter gets displaced at the molecular level. Works great if you need to cauterize an area that you just biopsied, but not so good for when you're trying to transmit anything larger than a breadcrumb. In the meantime, it's got the lovely applications that I've found." With that the speed and intensity of his keytapping reached new heights.

Mercy eyed the machine for a moment before something finally clicked. "This was the thing you were futzing around with when you figured out something was wrong with your brain, isn't it?"

"Yes. You see in mapping out spacial relations and integrations, the Panel also lets me see perfect three-dimensional representations of things. Right down to the quark level at almost any range."

She effected a bored nod because it was exactly what he expected from her. She sort of understood, but Lex was still off to the races.

"Even without the teleportation functions I could probably get this sold to hospitals as a cheaper, more energy efficient alternative to MRI's. Hell, airlines would love having this available to check for stress microfractures on planes."

"A little extra in your bank account couldn't hurt." She ventured.

He laughed. "Imagine it! Telescopic, microscopic, X-ray and heat vision all in one package. Granted it's not as compact as the alien's, but mine's got a much wider reach." He tapped a few more commands as the mist began to clear. "If anything the problem is actually getting the Slide to focus on something specific. There's just too much range, especially if the scale is off."

"How so?"

"I mean at one point I thought I was examining the Moon, but it turned out it was a dust grain on the table. I have, however, found a good temporary solution."

"And that is?"

"Booze." He picked up the bottle and took another long drink, finishing it off. "Or more precisely, this stuff."

He lightly tapped the enter key on the keyboard and the pure white cube cleared to reveal a massive three dimensional black and white image of Luthor at the desk. The image looked like a lightly pencilled sketch, the whole in charcoal tones down to something that resembled brush strokes, all radiating from the bottle. Lex started rotating the image using a trackball. He grunted idly as he looked up the huge image of the back of his head. "Didn't realize my collar was that crooked."

"You can focus on the booze." She said with a smirk in her tone, but not on her face. "Time traveling wine would probably be unique enough for you to home in on."

"Somewhat. This isn't actually a Javitz '86. The real stuff is overly fruity and terrible to have with anything other than fish." He held the bottle up. "This is a much less expensive and far superior Cabernet. A Marlet '45."

"So a hundred dollar bottle of wine rather than a fifteen thousand dollar one. If this isn't the time travelling wine, how you can focus on it?"

"Kryptonite."

Mercy turned to stare at him. "You're drinking Kryptonite? Didn't you have enough trouble when that stuff gave you cancer?"

Luthor shook his head. "Powdered kryptonite, mixed in with the wine. I have tons of the stuff handy. It's small enough that there's minimal radioactivity, you'd probably get more rads from a glow in the dark wrist watch, but a sufficiently distinctive radioactive signature that I can pick it out of all the background radiation in the East Coast."

He tapped a few more buttons and suddenly the charcoal outline shifted to Rebecca Tyler in her car on the freeway. The image was centered on her, with the charcoal strokes centered on her mid-section. Cars were whizzing past fading into the mist. "There's a few more kryptonite sources here and there between Metropolis and New York, but I figured she'd be the one moving."

"So she's heading home?" Mercy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Lex leaned back, crossing his arms across his chest as he watched. "She's just been given information that could be worth a great deal of money or cause her a lot of trouble with the press and a supervillain. She's heading to her office. The TylerCo plant's just off the next turnoff. She should be there fairly quickly."

"So the whole charade with the wine was just to get her to drink the kryptonite so you could track her? Why bother? Why not just slip it to her?"

"I needed to give her some sort of explanation for why she's going to be setting off her security system's radiation sensors."

"Do you know that they have radiation sensors?"

"It's pretty likely." Lex shrugged indifferently continuing to watch the phantom sketch of the car as it drove motionlessly through the scene. It was turning down a less traveled road now, away from the main highways. "Their security was installed by Mr. Terrific and if nothing else, the man is a genius. A thorough genius."

"Then wouldn't he have put something in to distinguish between the time radiation stuff a Javitz would be putting out and Kryptonite?"

"The equipment you'd need to be able to distinguish between those types of radiation at all would be a bit pricier than Miss Tyler would be able to afford. No, no... I think our little Trojan Horse play, with the charming Rebecca as the Horse should proceed quite nicely."

"Do you get sound on this?"

"Not exactly. I've got some pattern analysis running on the vibrations in the air that should reproduce sounds fairly close to how it should sound, but it's not direct audio."

She shrugged, "Well you have fun watching, then. I'm going to get some sleep." She turned on her heel, heading up to her small room on the mezanine.

"Be a dear and put some coffee on before you go, would you? This might take a while." Lex called back.

- - -

It was three hours later and Lex was pretty much ready to call the whole thing a loss. He thought he was a workaholic, but apparently he was an amateur compared to Miss Tyler. Then again her company was smaller and needed a lot more direction than LexCorp ever did. He'd paid close attention at first, watching as she passed through the security checkpoints, explaining pleasantly to her guards about the 'chronoton radiation' they were picking up. She got to her office and had an older woman, who was obviously her long-suffering secretary dig up every document even remotely related to the company's operations in the 40's.

A towering pile of folders and other papers threatened to create a huge mess on her desk. That was the beginning of the long slog. Lex tried. He tried so hard to pay attention, but trying to slow his reading speed down to match Rebecca's gave him a headache and bored him to tears. His attention began wandering within the first ten minutes and he found himself doodling on a sketchpad trying to design refinements for the Panel to allow him to home in on GPS coordinates. He was about to start reprogramming to allow for it when he notices that she'd stopped looking through the papers and had picked up the phone.

He turned the volume back up to listen in, hoping that this would prove more interesting than the last phone call when she'd asked the guard to bring her a diet Dr. Pepper.

The image had no color, but even so she seemed pale and tired. She cradled her head in one hand as she picked the phone handset in one hand. She cradled it with her shoulder as she punched in a phone number. Lex's equipment was recording and he could always check the number later. A smile blossomed on her face as she heard... something. Lex frowned as he tapped a few more keys, centering his audio analysis on the phone's handset.

"--uld call more often, Rebecca." The voice was male. Older, but it was difficult to pinpoint just how much older.

"I know, I know Uncle Rex. I'm sorry I haven't really been keeping up with you." She replied consolingly. "I need to pick your brains a little, though."

A dismissive snort came across the phone. "So you only call when you need some help."

"Oh, don't be like that. I really do need help." She murmurred trying to placate 'Uncle Rex'.

Lex wondered if she was talking to Rex Tyler. It was unlikely, but possible. Rebecca inherited TylerCo after her uncle had died. He reached across to the laptop he'd had on the desk and keyed in a fairly basic search that confirmed that Rex Tyler had died a few years ago. A few more quick clicks pulled up the fact that it had been Tyler's takeover of Bannermain Chemicals that caused the original name change to Tyler Chemicals back in the 50's. If this was that same Rex Tyler, well... that was an intersting tidbit and also potentially useful, since the man actually would have been working for the company at the time that the phobaline tetra hydrochorate formula was developed. Perhaps he remembered something useful. If it was the same man, then he'd be pushing eighty, but the voice on the other end still sounded vigorous, if a trifle cranky. Lex shook his head to clear it, tuning back into the conversation, having missed most of the idle familial chit-chat. He was recording, he figured. He could always listen to it again later.

"Fine, fine. What did you need?" The crankiness was now more for show and had little actual bite.

"I need you to cast your mind back to the 40's, Uncle Rex. Were you doing any work on something called phobaline tetrahydrochorate? Or do you know anyone who worked with it at Bannermain?"

The pause was so long Luthor was almost certain that the call had disconnected, but once the voice of Uncle Rex started speaking again, he knew he'd hit paydirt.

"Where did you hear about PTHC?" Suspicion, laid on thick in that voice.

"You know about it? Great, cause I thought for sure I was going crazy. I've been tearing our records apart trying to find any sort of reference to it--"

He interupted her, "There wouldn't be any, Becky. All records we had at Bannermain relating to the scare juice and the other psychoreactives were taken away. When we reincorporated under Tyler Chemicals, we didn't even end up keeping the time sheets for the work that got done."

"Why? That doesn't make any sense."

The voice on the line went silent for a long moment once more, before finally replying. "I don't know if the non-disclosure agreements they had us sign still apply, kiddo, but I don't think I can talk about it."

"That really doesn't make sense," She replied, beginning to grow exasperated. "Especially since there's a patent for it and Bannermain was listed as having been the one to apply for the patent on behalf of the army."

"That's what doesn't make sense." He shot back. "There wouldn't've been any patent. If there were, which there shouldn't've been, it wouldn't've listed Bannermain, Tyler Chemicals or TylerCo. No possible way. What's this about anyway?"

"Someone wants to manufacture non-lethal ordinance using a derivative of the phobaline, but he found what may be a classified patent for the procedure and wanted to know if he was going to have any trouble from trying to make it.."

The voice was puzzled. "How did they even get hold of it?"

"The formula was supposed to be the same as the Scarecrow's fear toxin. Supervillain out of Gotham?"

"I've heard of him. I heard he used something like the phobaline, but I didn't realize he was using the same stuff."

"From what I was told, it's not quite the same. It's a close derivative."

"So this Scarecrow says he's going to use the formula legitimately and wanted to get the patent rights squared away?"

"Actually, the one who wants to manufacture it is Lex Luthor."

"What?!!" Rebecca winced and pulled the phone hurriedly away from her ear. The sudden shout had almost deafened her. "Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker." She tapped a button the phone and set the handset back down.

"Just to be sure I heard you properly, you're saying that the one who wants to manufacture this stuff... stuff that can induce long-term psychotic level phobias in the right doses... is former President Lex Luthor? The one who went very publicly crazy and tried to assault Superman in Apokalipsian battle armor? The one that they impeached?"

"He wasn't impeached, he stepped down for his health." She replied. "And yes, that Lex Luthor."

There was a sigh. "Why are we even talking about this? This is obviously some sort of scam or scheme. Why's he having you look this up for him?"

"Uncle Rex, I know we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but he wasn't that bad a presiden--"

"The guy's the most crooked man we've had in the White House since Nixon!"

"You weren't even around for Nixon!"

"Technically, I was. I read about him. Luthor's a thousand times worse."

"Look, he nearly got the budget balanced, reduced unemployment to nearly zero, cleaned up Washington and saw us through two major alien invasions. Then while we were in the middle of winning against Apokalips and War World when he lost his daughter. I don't condone it, but I'm not surprised he turned to drugs. You of all people should understa--"

"Why? Because of my history with addiction?" He snorted. "What we're seeing in the newspapers, that's the public story, Becky. The truth's probably far worse. I'm surprised anyone still buys into this crap. He's a complete con artist. You know I hear there's people who would still actually vote for the guy if he decided to run again in the next election?"

"You have to admit he did right by Topeka when they got hit by the first strike. Kansas still backs Luthor. But we are getting completely off track, Uncle Rex. So you're saying the patent Luthor has is a fake?"

"I'd stake my life on it." The voice returned firmly.

"I wish you could tell me why you were so sure."

"I wish I could too, kiddo."

She crossed her arms, leaning against her desk in exhaustion. "Fake or not, he could still use the patent to connect TylerCo to the Scarecrow. I trust you, Uncle Rex, but I need something more."

"Look, I don't know what Luthor's game is, but it's probably going to be really bad for somebody. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that he'd have the info about the scare juice, seeing as how he was in office up until recently." He paused meaningfully, allowing her to draw her own conclusions.

"So you are saying that the ones who comissioned the phobaline really was the US government?" She asked.

"I'm kind of skirting the edge of my nondisclosure here, right now. I'm not even sure if it still applies or if the Fredom of Information act already has me covered. But basically, me and Bob were the lead researchers on a Project Mindful. That was comissioned through Bannermain chemicals by the US Army in 1937 and was not subject to an excess of security. It was the derivatives of our research that ended up getting sealed. We were looking into making a sort of super-caffiene. A stimulant that would help keep soldiers awake and alert and battle ready for up to a week in the field. We tried a dozens of different approaches, and we discovered a few... surprising things involving the human brain."

"That's the phobaline, right?"

"I won't confirm it, but suffice to say, they took the majority of our discoveries and put the whole thing under the blanket of national security. We weren't allowed to discuss the pschoreactives, or even think about them. That research did prove to be the foundation for my later work with Miraclo."

"This really doesn't make any sense, Uncle Rex."

"That's what I said!"

Lex however had tuned the conversation out once more. The laptop he'd had analyzing their conversation had coughed up another link in the chain that he could follow. Between the search programs, the pattern analysis programs and back door access to the full spectrum of computerized data the US government had on tap: the disparate elements Bob, 1937, Bannermain Chemicals, Rex Tyler and Project Mindful had cross-polinated and produced the name Robert Crane. The man had been a senior researcher at Bannermain at the same time as Rex Tyler. Interestingly enough, Bob Crane was an uncle to Johnathan Crane. Lex began humming, "It's a small world, after all" under his breath. This was one of those meaningful coincidences that was no coincidence. Lex was certain that the Scarecrow hadn't found the formula in the Gotham University stacks. Far more likely were documents that had once belonged to the elder Crane falling into the younger Crane's hands.

A few more taps and clicks pulled out a more complete story. Robert Crane was killed in 1942 and although his murderers were apprehended, the death certificate was odd. It wasn't a medical examiner who'd signed off on it, but rather a Professor Mazursky. No first name given. Something about that name tickled something in the back of Lex's brain. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out where he'd heard it before. There was something there. Something he could work with. It was time to let poor Rebecca off the hook as he glanced back up at the charcoal sketch image before him.

Miss Tyler was still talking with her Uncle Rex. The two were debating politics. Or more precisely debating Lex's political career. It amused him to no end that Rebecca was actually on his side. Rex Tyler, if that was who the man at the other end truly was, had very clear views on Lex's character, or lack thereof. That didn't surprise Lex at all, knowing what he did.

It was time now to tie up this particular lose end. He glanced at his watch, noting that it was just a bit past eleven. He shrugged and pulled a PDA out of his pants pocket. He keyed in her number and leaned back to watch as the phone rang. As Rebecca made her excuses to her Uncle Rex, he mused idly at how invasive the slide panel was. When he marketed the technology, he promised himself silently, he was going to have to cripple its capabilities considerably to allow people to retain some semblance of privacy. He'd keep the full powered version entirely for himself. With that thought firmly in mind, he allowed his hand to drift over the trackball control lightly. Just enough to center and zoom the image in on Rebecca's cleavage.

Ahh, science. "Hello, Rebecca. It's Lex, I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?"

"Oh, Lex! What a pleasant surprise," Lex admitted to himself that she did have a very nice smile. It lit up the room, even from nearly fifty miles away. "I didn't expect to hear back from you until tomorrow."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry to be calling so late, but--"

"No trouble at all, Lex. Don't worry. I was still up, doing some work. I've been looking in to what you said--"

"That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about." He interupted smoothly. "Some of my people took a closer look at that patent. Turns out one of the junior researchers was a bit... overenthusiastic."

"How so, Lex?"

"Do you know a... " He leaned over to the laptop screen, pulling up his notes. "Mr. Jason Marsdale?"

Lex watched the play of emotions across her face, writ large on the slide. "I... I think that was one of our clerks. He was fired last month for some very creative double booking. I conducted his exit interview myself."

"He was the one who 'discovered' the patent." Lex said, pitching his voice to pronounce the quotemarks. "He apparently has a rather large grudge against TylerCo as a result of his firing."

She snorted. "He's lucky we didn't press charges."

"I may yet press charges myself." He replied. "It turns out he was trying to trick the Scarecrow into attacking TylerCo and using me to play messenger. He forged the patent and wanted to make it look like the Scarecrow was sponsored by TylerCo. Ruin the company and have that psycho attack you at the same time."

"That's terrible."

"Terrible is right, the little weasel did a horrible job of covering up after himself. Some of my other investigators found out everything less than an hour ago."

"I'm glad you caught it in time, then." He had her distracted, he was certain. The information she'd gotten from Uncle Rex had skirted quite close to the lie he'd manufactured.

"As am I. That said, it looks like there may actually not be any barriers to a potential partnership on the manufacture of the PTHC if you're interested."

She laughed. "I'm not entirely certain if that's a direction we want TylerCo to go in. I suppose I should be glad I at least got dinner out of this."

"Well, if you aren't busy tomorrow, perhaps a second dinner might not go amiss. Just my way of apologizing for the trouble, and maybe seeing if I can talk you around to my way of thinking?" He asked smoothly.

She raised an eyebrow, the expression on her face flitting between simple intrigue and outright delight. Lex smirked. He still had it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 4**

_by Scriviner_

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Mercy stepped out of her bedroom, fully dressed and ready for the day. It was early, but she was used to it. She straightened out the tunic of her chauffeur's uniform, and picked an imaginary piece of lint off her sleeve. The statuesque woman should have expected it, but she was still surprised to find Lex was hard at work at the computer station nearest to the sliding panel. On a nearby desk a half dozen computer monitors flashed and scrolled text obviously waiting for more input, but he was ignoring them in favor of the circuit board he was sliding back into the computer cabinet.

She frowned down at him from the vantage of the mezzanine before calling down, "Have you been up all night again?"

Lex looked up, a screwdriver between his teeth and smudges of dust on his face. He mumbled something to her, then realized he wasn't making any sense and spat the screwdriver out before calling back. "Is it morning already?"

"Dawn was an hour ago." She replied, walking down the stairs to join him. She gave him a scowl full of mock fierceness, "Did you get any sleep at all?"

He replied airily, "Edison got by on catnaps. I had a few minutes of sleep here and there."

"You're no Edison, Mr. Luthor."

"Compared to me, Edison was a sub-literate moron," he scoffed, "I've got some of the quirks of the Panel sorted out. Given a location and elevation I can home in on anywhere on the planet."

"That's good. I thought you were busy peeking in on Ms. Tyler, though?"

"It wasn't peeking. I was performing information gathering." He sniffed. "It paid off, incidentally. I'm having dinner with Rebecca again tonight."

"So soon? Isn't that unusual, sir?"

"Haven't you heard, Mercy? Lex Luthor's turning over a new leaf." He declared grandiosely, waving a circuit board around.

She grinned cheekily at his back. "This is why you're perfecting your peeping machine? To score extra dates?"

"No." He said flatly, treating her to a scowl. "If you'd be so good as to start another pot of coffee, I'll be happy to show you our next step."

She moved smoothly over to the kitchen counter, turning on the LexCorp coffee maker with practiced ease, before slipping Lex's old "Super-genius" mug under the drip. "So what did you find?"

"That these men we're looking for are very, very good at hiding themselves. I've been making all sorts of inquiries all night with a great many, many government databases."

"Didn't they rescind your security clearance yet?"

"Nope. As long as that friendly little Korean fellow in the CIA's IT department keeps getting his monthly check, he will continue to forget to remove my access."

He walked to the counter, then took the now full mug. He winced just before taking a sip of the Blue Mountain goodness, and pulled open a drawer at the counter, pulling out a bottle of small red pills. Lex's own special blend of pain killers, vitamins, and caffeine. Between the lack of sleep, the kryptonite laced wine from the night before and the sweaty work he'd been engaged in, he was in that uncomfortable zone where one was still slightly drunk while suffering from sleep deprivation but now also nursing a hangover. He popped a handful of pills, washing it down with the strong, hot coffee. "Even with presidential level access... even with my less than legally procured Excelsior access gave me nothing. So I'm forced to follow up on the only clue I have on hand."

"Something you heard from Ms. Tyler?"

"Yes. Now that the Panel can home in on GPS coordinates and I have some coordinates to home in on, I think we can proceed." Lex said as he slid home the last circuit board. He stood up and flipped the switch back to on, letting the white cube take shape once more.

"What are you planning on doing?"

He walked over to the monitor and began tapping on the keys. "I want to look in on one of the men responsible for what they did to my brain. I have a phone number. With a phone number, I can find an address. With an address, I can pull up county records for floor plans and Google the coordinates. It turns out that dear Rebecca's aunt Wendi is living with someone she calls 'Uncle Rex', who seems rather suspiciously like Rex Tyler."

"Why suspiciously?"

"Because he's a dead man. Doubly so. He was missing, declared dead in 1986 just a little after the Crisis. He reappeared in '92, looking younger than he did when he disappeared in '86, which was way too young for a man in his sixties to begin with. Then, all of a sudden, he dies of acute organ failure in 1994, looking his correct age, which was when Rebecca inherited the company from him." He paused, raising an eyebrow at her. "Last night, she was having a pretty chummy conversation with a man supposedly ten years dead."

"Well, you've been declared dead a few times yourself, Mr. Luthor."

"Which is exactly why I'm suspicious. I wouldn't trust myself, so someone else with a history like mine makes me quite curious." He finished his coffee, "I think I have the slide set up properly."

"Then why bother with the slide? Why don't you just approach him directly or send someone?"

"We may yet go that route, but for now, we need more information." A few more key presses cleared the cube's display, sending it zooming down on a view of the eastern seaboard... closer in to upstate New York to an affluent suburb, before finally closing in on a pleasant house with a picket fence and a neatly mown lawn. The view passed through a wall, then up through the ceiling, rising up from the floor of a second story bedroom where an older couple were cuddled up in bed. They appeared to be in their fifties. The woman had a short bob of lightly colored hair and was dressed in a modest nightgown. The man was bare chested, dressed only in pajama bottoms and had graying dark hair. Lex would definitely need to work on getting color on the slide show display, but his view was clear enough. The woman certainly looked like the driver's license photo he'd found for Wendi Tyler, wife to Rex Tyler. They both wore matching wedding bands on. Thin and lightly colored. Probably platinum or white gold.

Lex zoomed his view in closer to the bed. The sleeping man looked like Rex Tyler's driver's license photo, which according to the DMV records he'd been able to find was taken back in 1978. Aside from the graying hair, the man looked almost exactly as he did in the nearly thirty year old photo. This man, this Rex, was in incredible shape for a man of any age. He had an athlete's build, with not a spare ounce of fat. There was some of the inevitable softening that came with age, but the man's body was that of a man in his early thirties.

Mercy raised an eyebrow.

"I can only hope I look that good when I'm in my eighties." Lex said with a smirk.

"There's no way he's in his eighties."

"I'm tempted to see if he's had work done."

"Well, why don't you? If he's an impostor, that would be a quick way to check."

"True." He replied, tweaking the trackball and zooming in closer, the view peeled away skin and facial muscle, exposing the bone beneath. A slight twitch of the control proved a little too strong, sending the image past the bone, which Lex noted idly showed no signs of surgery, but quite a few healed fractures here and there. Lex managed to stop the display finally, but the massive image had centered on the man's brain. Most specifically his amygdalla.

Mercy stared up at the extremely enlarged view of the interior of the man's brain. "Is that... what are those rough spots?"

"Scars." Lex spat out. His grip on the trackball tightened and he found his teeth bared in a snarl. His heart was hammering in his chest. It was almost exactly like him. Almost exactly, right down to details that he hadn't quite considered before. One thing was clear though. He forced his breath to slow and ground out to Mercy. "This poor sap isn't a co-conspirator. He's another victim."

"They exposed him too?"

"Yes. The scars look old. At least as old as mine, but given how young he looks, it would be difficult to pin down a date for his exposure." Lex ran a hand over his scalp in frustration. His eyes narrowed as he noted an odd reading on his display. He adjusted the cube slightly, everything began to show up sharper. Clearer. Better outlined.

Mercy raised an inquiring eyebrow at Lex's expression.

"Well, I think I can explain his disappearances and why he seems so young." He replied. "Chronoton radiation. He's saturated in the stuff and his wife is contaminated, but it looks like secondary transfer. He's the primary source. Either he's jumped back and forth multiple times, or he spent a long time... decades, maybe... outside of the natural flow of time." He waved his hand dismissively, "But that's neither here nor there. Do you realize what this means?"

"No."

"I've been looking at this whole thing as someone conspiring against me. I'd considered the possibility that a time traveler had gone back in time to alter my mind, specifically to control my behavior in the present day, but that's not the only explanation."

"He is a time traveler, Mr. Luthor." Mercy pointed out patiently.

"Yes, but if I'd been affected at such a young age... then it's not inconceivable that it wasn't personal. If they did it to him as well, then there may be others. His life has enough parallels to mine that it could be a profile that our hidden conspirators are working through." He dismissed the image on the and began hurriedly programming at the console. "I need to know."

"Know what, sir?"

"How many others these people did this to. I'll need to run a search... but I need more computing power on hand to do it..." He mumbled to himself, turning his full focus back onto the monitor. Mercy shook her head. She knew he would probably be preoccupied for the rest of the day. Taking his distraction for a dismissal, she made her way to the vehicle bay. They were going to need something to eat after all, and the Big Belly Burger down the street would do just as well as pizza would to keep Lex going.

- - -

Rebecca Tyler never did get that second dinner with Lex. Mercy ended up calling her with some vague excuses, as Lex managed to bury himself in his laboratory work. There were occasional forays into the outdoors, but never very far. Lex hadn't needed much in the way of parts for this project beyond some equipment he could pick up for himself at a local Radio Shack. It was a week later when he informed Mercy that he had completed his search engine. On the seventh day, Lex rested and let the cobbled together equipment run. On that day, he unleashed a deluge of nuisance calls the likes of which had never been seen before, and likely never be seen again.

Men and women up and down the East coast received the calls. There seemed to be neither rhyme nor reason in the pattern of calls, only that no phone was safe. The call would ring ten times. If no one picked up, or the call was picked up by voice mail or some other sort of phone service, it would hang up immediately. Otherwise, a short advertising jingle for WayneTech would play. To say that the backlash against Waynetech was significant, was to understate it.

Lex was still not completely over LexCorp getting sold to them and was quite happy to get his licks in where he could, even if it was the equivalent of juvenile pranking. A few engineered advertising budget tweaks would later indicate that WayneTech had paid for the mass phone spamming. The bad publicity, nuisance charges and punitive fines they would face for violating the National Do Not Call database was simply a happy extra as far as he was concerned.

The real point of the exercise was considerably more invasive. He'd started with a purloined customer database for phone carriers up and down the East Coast. He would have preferred to have had one for the entire country, but he'd been too busy working on the other details to get the rest of the list. The other details in this case included setting up the database and the GPS system to the Sliding Panel's targeting computer as well as setting up a camera feed with pattern recognition software of his own design. Programming the automated calling software and hijacking a telemarketing firm's auto-dialer equipment was almost an afterthought.

The auto-dialer pulled a name from the database and executed the call. While the call attempted to connect, a search would run concurrently, tracing the location of the call's destination. In the case of landlines, it was simple enough to trace the location from the billing address, otherwise, a complicated algorithm inserted into the cellular network allowed him to trace calls to individual cellphones with an accuracy of a few yards. Once the call was picked up, the sliding panel would center on the location so retrieved. The pattern recognition software would get into the act at that point. It would center itself first on the individual answering the call, cross-checking the face of the one answering the call against DMV photos and mugshots to confirm identity, before zooming in closer to take a snapshot of their brains. The pattern recognition software would check once more, looking for the distinct pattern of scars that phobaline tetrahydrochorate left behind. In the event of a positive match, it would flag the database entry, before running the whole against a statistical analysis linked to Luthor's various government databases to find significant patterns in those displaying the marks.

Even with the various tweaks and optimizations Lex had performed to the slide, it still needed three seconds to complete each individual scan. Running the search consecutively on the tens of millions of phone subscribers on the East Coast would have taken well over a year to complete. Seeking to cut down on that, Lex reprogrammed the panel to scan a thousand phones at a time. The autodialers could keep up, if only just barely. Lex had had to take over a the capacity of a large Indian firm as well as a half dozen Philippines customer service companies just to get everything to work all at once. The expanded search cut the time down considerably from a year to less than a day. It was also more of a strain on Lex's equipment. He only hoped the slide could keep up.

As the search ran, Lex lounged on his large, overstuffed sofa. He had a cold beer in hand. His eyes were closed and his head leaned back, letting his mind drift. The privacy implications his sliding panel introduced were terrifying. While similar setups could be done with traditional teleportation equipment, the power requirements were prohibitive. There was no way to make sure a broad search be energy efficient. With the panel, however he could do these things with easily affordable equipment and low power consumption. Most importantly, nothing could keep it out or keep it from peeking in on you. He was running a search real time human engine on people. If he wished, he could just as easily have changed the parameters to find him every single redhead in lingerie within a fifty mile radius. Or every criminal with an outstanding warrant currently in violation of his or her parole. Or every husband cheating on his wife within a single block.

Lex mused that it was good fortune that he'd been the one to develop it. After all, he would be able to use it responsibly. The laugh that escaped his lips was genuinely amused.

Mercy eyed him from her desk. She'd just gotten off the phone with Miss Teschmacher. The woman handled the day to day running of Lex's remaining legal business interests. Eve Teschmacher's mother had needed a complex and expensive medical procedure that Lex had paid for and in so doing had bought the woman's undying loyalty. The woman was once the head of LexCorp's secretarial pool, but she turned out to be so spectacularly loyal to Lex personally that she'd quit LexCorp during the buyout and had ended up becoming Lex's personal assistant, albeit at a remove. Lately, his attention had not been on his money, and it was only Mercy and Miss Teschmacher's industrious work that kept Lex in beer and electronics.

"Tess says everything's going well. Also, those bio-engineered rice shares that were picked up in Taiwan are finally starting to turn a profit. She just thought you might want to know."

"Her judgment, as always, is impeccable."

"Are you almost done with this?"

"This, what?"

"Your vendetta. You haven't really done much but putter around since you used your peeping device on Ms. Tyler's uncle."

"I'm still working on it. As I told you before, there's far too much we don't know. I'm trying to remedy that." Lex was about to say more when a chime from his equipment signaled the completion of the panel search. He got up smoothly and made his way across the lab. As he got to the monitors, he watched the scrolling data for a long moment. His expression became more and more grave, the longer he stared.

"What's wrong?"

"This... this is monstrous." His voice was filled with raw, painful anger. She knew he'd been angry when he'd found out about how his brain had been tampered with. That had been nothing. That was a campfire. Now he was a blazing conflagration. That hard, cold light in his eyes had been lit. The rage he'd once reserved for Superman was now being turned on these people, whoever they might have been. His voice had dropped, tightly controlled now, but aching to unleash hell on someone. The mad, terrible expression of a man seeking to tear down heaven itself.

"What is it?"

He pointed to the screen, specifically at a list of names that completely filled the screen. At the top, written in bold text it said, '28,452 entries flagged.' "Even with false positives, that's a terrifyingly large number." He scrolled lower, looking over every point of correlation between the names as they came up. The pattern was there. Clear and unmistakeable.

"Men, women, teens, children, the elderly... victims from every demographic. This is huge. This goes beyond--" he paused. A clear picture forming from the sample, finally large enough for him to see true patterns. "Genius. Crippling genius."

Mercy slid into nod and grunt mode. Lex needed to vent and she knew that accommodating him was just part of the job.

"A statistically significant portion of our sample have standardized IQ's in the genius end of the scale, but I don't think that's the only indicator. It's not just superior intelligence, it's... I'm not sure how to describe it. I didn't realize at the time, but some of these tests that measure that can also be used to check for indicators of mental flexibility." He shook his head, looking for words that fit better, but his anger had robbed him of his eloquence. "The new. New things. That's the factor these people all share. On standardized psychological tests in their permanent records, all of them showed unusually high levels of adaptive thinking. Tendencies towards innovation, at least before their exposure. The other correlation is truly disturbing."

"That is?"

"Mental problems. Over seventy percent of these people have a record of some sort of mental disease or other anti-social behaviors bad enough to need diagnosis. Did you know that there are all sorts of studies relating schizophrenia with creativity and intelligence? If I'm reading this data right... the reason why they're schizophrenics is because they're so bright. They were made schizophrenic."

"With the fear toxin?"

"Scare anyone badly enough and you can break their mind. These... these animals have been doing this for generations now. Systematically crippling us in our thousands."

The anger in Lex's voice was getting to her. Mercy was finding it more and more difficult to keep her own composure in the face of it. Lex wasn't beyond mad, she could tell this whole thing offended him on a profoundly personal level. "But, why?" She asked.

He looked away, the anger slowly starting to drain from his expression. There was a shift as the question echoed in his mind. "Why?" Why would anyone go through the trouble. Who benefits? Why would anyone do such a thing? Where was the profit? The whole enterprise was far too widespread and organized to be someone's random psychotic inflicting damage on people. There was a reason for this, perhaps one that a sane man could not accept, but... and here, Lex allowed a cold smile touch his lips, his discovery had left him with serious doubts about his own sanity.

Lex did not know his own mind as well as he'd hoped. There were places in there that he was not only unfamiliar with, but there were places in his head that he was outright terrified of. Places that thought taking kryptonite laced super steroids were a good idea. Places that insisted that a Kryptonian needed to die. Places that made him budget billions of dollars a year towards killing a man whose only fault was in being better than Lex. He'd covered these parts over, piled on justifications and rationalizations so thickly that he almost believed them, but the past few months, with the violent detox and the discovery of how his mind had been tampered with had forced him to reevaluate everything.

The knowledge that he was not alone hit harder. The anger had gone past white hot, pushed to the extreme of cold, brutal logic, that was no less horrific for the fury that fueled it. Detached from his emotions, he analyzed the data once more. The analysis was clear. Separated from the human element, the "why" leapt out at him.

Lex turned to face her. He stepped closer, the cold that he'd dipped himself in cracked and he did something he never thought he would. He reached a hand out, staggering slightly as the blood drained from his face. It was so clear. Mercy reached out to catch him before he fell. His arms encircled her without warning, and he clung to her, seeking some warmth desperately as the implications filtered through his mind.

A faint blush threatened to rise to her cheeks, but she beat that down mercilessly. She cleared her throat, looking down on his bald head as he held her tightly.

He looked up, staring into her eyes. For a moment it was his detox all over again. The eyes of a broken man. One battered to his limits and reduced to animal's panic and irrationality. He was at his lowest ebb once more, the cusp just before he struggled to pull himself back together.

He whispered to her, his fists bunching up the material of her uniform. "They want us crippled. And limited. They want the human race stupid and obedient. They're trying to keep us ground down to our lowest common denominator. Take away mankind's inventors, its leaders, its innovators before they even have a chance to come forward. It makes sense... how do you keep someone from causing you trouble? Get to him and deal with him before he gets a chance to. They couldn't kill all of these people. That would make too obvious a pattern. But make them unstable... Make them anti-social, asocial, arrogant and completely unable to cooperate with others through insanity and they'll isolate themselves for you. More efficient. It takes less manpower since your prisoner guards himself. The few who slip through the cracks, either because they were strong enough to resist or were missed in the sweeps aren't enough to stem the tide. Not enough of us to make the difference that they can't control." Lex's eyes were shining. "They turned me into a selfish, self-centered, amoral monster so that I wouldn't make trouble for them. Because I'd be easier to deal with. So that I'd keep everything I'd created for myself instead of using it to change the world."

"Are... are you alright?"

He straightened up slowly, still holding onto Mercy for support, but no longer weak, no longer needing her. Now he held her just... for the warmth of human contact. "No, I don't think I'm going to be alright until I see every one of these animals bleeding and kneeling at my feet. We still don't have the 'who', but with this 'why', I've just figured out a 'how'."

"How what?"

"How to fight back. Call Miss Teschmacher, Mercy, my dear." His eyes were hard once more. "We're going to war."


	5. Chapter 5

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 5**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Many people still believe that the Batman is an urban legend. He encourages this as the stories that are told of him grow with each telling. Half the criminal element in Gotham are terrified of him. The other half are too crazy to care.

He sat at one of the workstations in his lair. The Batcave had multiple workstations from which one could access the networked supercomputers that he used. It was the big monitor. He knew the various Robins would occasionally use the big monitor to play video games on. It wasn't something he encouraged, but he pretended not to know. Dick and Tim continued to sneak around pretending that they didn't know that he knew.

At the moment, he was working on updating case files. Not new ones, but cold case files that were still open. It had been an oddly quiet month in Gotham. The biggest piece of excitement had been a near riot in Arkham sparked by the Scarecrow, but it had broken up before he'd gotten there. Nothing major. Some street crime, a few domestic disturbances that even the GCPD had been able to handle, but organized crime, the meta-human criminal element... the rogues... had been laying low for the past few weeks.

He didn't like the quiet. It usually meant someone was up to something. He'd spent the previous night shaking down every informant he could get his hands on, but no one knew anything. Everyone was simply... laying low.

It was maddening.

He glanced over his shoulder towards the folding cot next to the uniform vault. Batgirl was asleep on the cot. She was out of her uniform, wearing a thin sweater and nothing else that was obvious. It was black. He knew Alfred and Babs had attempted to interest her in clothes of another color. Any other color, but she'd decided that she liked wearing black. All the time. He suspected that it was her own way of asserting her individuality. It was something she herself liked. Something that hadn't been imposed on her.

She'd swung by the night before from Bludhaven seeking out Alfred's cookies. She'd not only gone through her supply, but Tim's supply as well. Alfred unfortunately had not had any on hand, and offered to bake some for her first thing in the morning. It was just easier for her to stay the night than leave and come back.

Bludhaven's nights had been as quiet as Gotham's lately, so he knew Tim would be able to handle things until she got back later tonight. This time well rested. It was already daylight outside. Well past time when he should have gone to bed, but the lack of activity from the past few nights were playing havoc with his schedule. He felt like he hadn't accomplished nearly enough, and ended up staying up til past noon, which short-changed him as far as sleep went.

Alfred's soft step on the stair caught his attention, but he pretended that he hadn't noticed. He also pretended that the polite throat clearing hadn't happened either.

"Master Bruce, you have a visitor."

He turned then, his cowl down and revealing his face. He quirked an eyebrow at the expression on his butler's face. It was studiously blank, but years of living with the man had given Bruce Wayne special insight into the expressions of Alfred Pennyworth. There was a tiny twist of distaste at the corner of his mouth, just enough to let Bruce know that whoever the visitor was, he was unwelcome.

"A Mr. Lex Luthor to see you, sir. I've taken the liberty of situating him in the Peach Drawing Room." He added after a moment, "He should be quite at home with the cheap decor. I have the security cameras recording his every movement."

The Batman rose, shedding his cape and cowl messily on the back of his seat. He walked to the costume vault, stripping his shirt and kicking his boots off carelessly. Alfred, offered him a pair of gray pajama pants, slippers and a burgundy smoking jacket. "Did he say what he wants?" He asked gravely, slipping into the change of clothes.

"I did not inquire, sir. All he would tell me was that it urgent and of the utmost importance. He would not take no for an answer, and frankly, he was quite on the verge of rudeness in his insistence." Alfred paused to consider it, "He seemed... desperate, sir."

A grunt was all the reply Alfted got. Bruce was still in the process of shifting gears... at the moment he was still the Batman, but wearing Bruce Wayne's clothes. With every step he shed just a bit more of that intensity, a bit more of the scowl. He slipped into an expression of vacuous imbecility as easily as he'd slid on the clothes. The light of intelligence in his eyes guttered out, becoming sleepy and half lidded. That and a quick toussel of his hair made him look as though he'd just gotten out of bed. Alfred, with masterful expertise passed him a hair of the dog style soda water with a pickled olive in a martini glass as a prop.

The last time Bruce had seen Lex personally, the man was strung out on a strange mix of the super steroid Venom and liquid kryptonite. He'd been wearing an Apokalips produced battle suit and was ranting, raving and clearly in the throes of a psychotic break. The hollowed out shell of the Lex Tower building collapsing on top of him was believed to have ended up serving as his tomb.

At the time, he'd know with a certainty born of long experience that Luthor had survived. He'd expected the ex-president to hide out until it was advantageous to show himself once more.

His appearance before Congress two weeks later, one leg and both arms broken, a vari-colored mass of bruises across his face, had caught everyone by surprise. Lex had been contrite and regretful and mournful. Struggling to speak through a jaw that had been wired shut, he'd painted himself as swept up by a problem beyond his control. A drug problem stemming from the loss of his infant daughter during the war with Apokalips and Warworld, the drugs rendered him paranoid and delusional. He blamed himself for not having realized it earlier. He thanked those closest to him for their support in helping him get past the addiction. He pleaded weakness, still being caught up in his detox. Despite all these limitations, he was brilliantly sympathetic.

He managed to short circuit the calls for his impeachment by tendering his resignation and offering to let Pete Ross, his Vice-President serve out the rest of his term. The sheer audacity of it, the blatant pandering and shameless tugging at the heartstrings of the American people had saved him not only from impeachment proceedings, but from dozens of felony charges as well. Under pressure from their constituents, no charges of any sort had been brought up against Lex.

Bruce had marveled at the time. And mourned at the gullibility of the public at large. Lex had gotten away. Again. The man had disappeared again right after the fuss of the almost impeachment. It was only now, months later that he'd resurfaced. Right in Bruce Wayne's Peach Drawing Room.

As Bruce, now fully in his foppish Bruce persona swept through the open double doors, he was struck at the difference between this Lex and the one he'd fought with all those months ago.

For one, he looked as though he'd lost weight. The ripped masses of muscle that the Venom had put on his frame were gone, replaced by the old familiar sleekness that the man had from before he'd taken the Oval Office. No Apokalipsian armor, just a well-pressed charcoal Brooks Brothers suit. A bright green silk tie in a half-Windsor knot. Silver... possibly platinum tie clip holding it down. Monogrammed. Sleek was a good word for him. He seemed to fairly gleam with good health and... it wan't something Bruce could quite put his finger on. Lex was somehow... smugly self-satisfied. More so than he'd ever been before, but beyond that. The grasping energy. The endless nervous hunger that seemed to surround the man so often, even in repose, was gone.

This was a man who'd found himself, Bruce mused to himself. It was a little unnerving. He was dealing with something new here, he was certain. All of this came to him in the fractions of a second, little enough time for him to keep firm hold of his mask and select the best reaction Bruce Wayne... good old vapid and shallow Bruce Wayne would have for a former business rival and ex-president who'd shown up at his home out of nowhere.

"Lex! What a pleasant surprise!" Bruce said grandly, holding a hand out and carelessly allowing some of the soda water slosh out of his faked up martini.

Lex favored him with a small, tight, smile and replied. "Bruce, come now... you don't need to lie so politely. I know my being here is a surprise, but you needn't pretend that it's pleasant."

Bruce shrugged negligently, favoring Lex with a sleepy smile. "I was raised to be polite, Lex. Let us be direct then. Why are you here?" He gestured to the chairs, silently inviting Lex to sit, as befitted a gractious host, but watching him warily. He'd spotted Lex's bodyguard-slash-chauffeur-slash-henchwoman, Mercy Graves standing next to the door, trying her best to look small and inoffensive. On a woman with her Junoesque frame, it was a lost cause.

Lex took a seat on the proffered overstuffed armchair. It had been upholstered in Peach to match the rest of the room. Bruce hated it in this room, but that was what it was built for. The entire place was meant to keep people slightly psychologically imbalanced with all the decor in a mildly unpleasant color scheme and the fact that the floor and all the paintings on the wall were just ever so slightly off-level. It was so subtle that only the very perceptive noticed it outright, but everyone else felt themselves just a tiny bit disturbed without knowing why as their brains kept insisting that something was just... wrong about the room.

The room's effect seemed lost on Lex as he crossed his legs,his elbows rested on the arm rests, fingers steepled together before him. "I'd like to make you an offer, Bruce."

Bruce had carelessly flopped into the chair facing Lex's and was making a huge show of noisily finishing his "martini". "Did you want LexCorp back, Lex? I'm afraid my people have already been hard at work dismantling it. Not much left of it but a name now." Bruce tried very hard not to show too much satisfaction at the change in Lex's eyes. No change in his expression, but for a moment there was anger. It was quickly hidden away, locked behind Luthor's opaque gaze.

Lex chuckled lightly, "That's not it at all, Bruce. I'm glad you took LexCorp. It only served to confirm for me, something that's been bothering me for a long time."

"Which is what, Lex?"

"Your secret." Lex said quietly.

Bruce wasn't able to keep himself from tensing his arm just a minuscule amount. He realized that he was squeezing his armchair's armrest, nails digging into the disturbingly peach fabric for a moment before he forced himself to relax. Alfred, approaching to one side of him barely managed to hide the minute tremor as he set the tea set down for the two mean. The tension hadn't escaped anyone and Lex kept Bruce's gaze.

Bruce forced a laugh, making it as light and vapid as ever. "Oh, come now, Lex. I'm an open book! You know as well as I do what it's like to live in the goldfish bowl!"

Lex raised a hand, a look of mild disgust on his face. "Bruce, please. Don't insult my considerable intelligence by trying to pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about."

"I really don't."

"The secret you've kept from all the good citizens of Gotham City, Bruce. The one that I think you've done your best to hide from yourself." Lex leaned forward, his voice low, his tone urgent.

This time the confusion that Bruce felt was sincere. He was almost certain now that Lex wasn't talking about his nocturnal activities as Batman, but what did he mean?

"I started to suspect right after the Gotham quake. When you argued so passionately to prevent the No-Man's Land order from being pushed through. You failed, but that was mostly because everyone you spoke to couldn't quite see past your dilettante playboy facade. I know the truth though. You're much, much smarter than you pretend to be."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. Well, that was unexpected. "I beg your pardon?"

"Come on, Bruce... you own a thriving major company in dozens of industries. Despite your air-head act, the board of directors hasn't kicked you out, which tells me that somehow, you're managing to give them decisions that are working to the company's advantage. All this while maintaining the appearance of a jet-setting ne'er-do-well. You're working very, very hard to look like an idiot, which I can only assume is to make people underestimate you. I know I certainly did. Yet, given all that you aren't really using it."

"Lex, come on... you're probably reading way too much--"

"We both know you're far, far brighter than you pretend to be." Lex rose to his feet and began to pace, with his hands clasped behind his back. "I came to an epiphany recently. My advantages... all the things intellectual, scientific and financial at my command, I've used them poorly. I've squandered my gifts on pettiness and short-sighted desires when I could have created greatness and wonder."

Bruce watched him intently. This was no Lex Luthor he'd ever encountered before. Even crazed from the drugs, his voice had never had this... fervor. This strange manic zeal that lit his eyes and animated his face. He wanted to interrupt. To ask questions, but Lex continued.

"Given an opportunity to stare right in the face of all my wasted chances and bad decisions, I'm choosing to move past them all." He'd paused in front of the window, taking a moment to admire the well-manicured Wayne lawn. He turned abruptly, facing Bruce once more. "I want to give you the same opportunity that I've had."

"I really don't understand what you're driving at, Lex."

"You may not wish to acknowledge it, in fact you may not be able to acknowledge it, but we are far more alike than you realize. Both of us wasting our talents and advantages when we could have been using them to make the world better."

Bruce frowned, not quite comprehending what Lex was driving at, but he disliked the tone. "Are you saying I'm not?"

"Bruce..." Lex's voice was pitying. "I know you don't want to admit it to yourself, but you aren't operating at anywhere near to your full abilities. You've slacked off and pretended to be this brainless buffoon for so long you've forgotten just how gifted you are. All the money you pour into charities, all the good work the Wayne Foundation does is nothing compared to what you could truly accomplish if you stopped hiding from yourself."

"I don't think I like your tone, Lex" Bruce feigned injured pride, but he felt a twinge himself. Lex Luthor of all people lecturing him on reaching his full potential. Some part of him had always wondered if Batman truly was the best way to acheive his ends. Some part of him wondered if he really was doing all that he could. To himself he quietly responded, the lives he'd saved was proof that he was making a difference... but was it enough of one?

"Your problem, Bruce, is that in the years that you've been slacking off, it's not just a role. It's your defense. Pretend to be stupid, pretend to not know or not care and people leave you alone. No big decisions for you, since everyone will assume you're too vacuous or just to ignorant to make them. It's time to stop hiding and time to step up, though, Wayne."

Bruce didn't have to pretend anymore to let the touch of frost creep into his voice. "You said something about an offer, Lex?"

Lex smiled at him. "I'm giving you the same chance I got recently. I'm offering you a chance to save the world. Show me some of that passion you had when you were arguing for Gotham, but I want you to show it for the world."

"I'm losing my patience, Lex. I think it's time for you to go--"

Lex cut him off, pulling a pen-sized cylinder from his jacket pocket. He held it out to Bruce. "This is ten terabyte USB hard drive. Manufacturing cost once you've got the facilities set up for it would be under $20."

Bruce's expression curdled to bafflement once more, "What?"

"You may have bought LexCorp, but the majority of the proprietary processes and patents for our top-selling products were personally in my name. On the drive I have a digitally scanned file signing over the manufacturing rights to you. There are a few other schematics and text files outlining other processes and products that we've kept suppressed for years and a few I came up with over the past few weeks."

"What kind of suppressed products?"

Lex waggled the flash drive. "In here I have a vaccine for AIDS that has shown 98% effectiveness during trials. I have the formula for a single injection that will completely cure muscular dystrophy in 85% of those so treated. A second or third dose will cure the remainder. I have a dozen viable cancer treatments that do not involve radiation. Cures and treatments for dozens of diseases. I have procedures for manufacturing genetically tailored bacteria that will consume garbage and produce a tarry sludge that can be processed like crude oil to make gasoline and plastic. I have designs for a processing plant the size of a truck trailer that can take in rocks and debris to manufacture near-impervious lightweight shelters in under an hour. It was originally developed for military applications, to create bunkers and hardpoints in the middle of a war zone, but it could easily be retasked for use in disaster sites."

Lex gestured grandly. "This is only the beginning, Bruce. I have designs for a desk sized generator fueled by air, sunlight and water that can run a small American town but costs less to manufacture than a new car. Imagine seeding those designs to Third World countries, bringing cheap light and power to everyone. Imagine it in rural areas here in the US, entire towns and cities dropping out of the power grin. I have the genetic blueprints for strains of wheat, corn and rice that are disease resitant and can thrive in dessert environments. I have a wide range radiation wave projector that can inhibit combustion... useful for firefighting, but it also keeps guns from working. All these wonders and more."

Bruce stared, "You've been keeping all of these to yourself?"

"Yes." Lex nodded.

"Why?"

"There wasn't any profit in releasing them before. In some cases I couldn't find a way to make more money out of them. In others, they would cut into profits from existing ventures. That doesn't matter now, though."

"Why not?" Bruce felt lost at sea. He really couldn't see where Lex was coming from with this, nor where he was going.

He tossed the drive at Bruce who caught it awkwardly. "I'm giving this all to you." Lex said. "That's my offer. All I ask in return is that you not bury it. I want you to make sure this is all spread far and wide."

The confusion was back in force on his face. "You're giving this to me?"

"Here's your chance now, Wayne. Here and now to make something more. To do more and create a better world. You've thought about it, but you've been so scared and hiding from what you could actually accomplish that you never did more than uphold the status quo. Here's a chance now to go beyond that. To make real, tangible improvements to the world. Most of what I have on there will have it's opposition. The oil cartels will hate the gas-making bacteria. Power conglomerates will hate the generator. Pharmaceutical companies will hate the drugs and cures. And so on and so on..." Lex shook his head, "Everyone who has an agenda, everyone who's invested in keeping the status quo will hate what I've given you."

"Why would I, though?" Bruce said, the vacuous mask of Brucie was gone. There was sharpness and an essential intelligence lit clearly behind his eyes. Lex smiled on seeing it. "Even assuming all of these work as advertised. Supposing that these truly are the world-changing technologies you claim they are. What reason do I have to spread them for you?"

"First is that they truly would be ways to improve the world. I'm giving you the opportunity to do so. One that you've denied yourself, over and over. Second, for your shareholders, these all represent massive leaps forward in technologies. Using them puts you far ahead of the pack and will be worth billions to WayneTech. Third, if you don't use them I will take them to someone who will. Maybe STAR Labs, maybe Dayton Industries... even KordTech. In which case you'll be finding yourself trying to compete desperately against far superior products and technologies. Unless your managers are smarter and more flexible than I give them credit for, WayneTech will be bankrupt inside of three years." Lex's voice had dropped as he counted off the reasons. Despite the mid-afternoon sunlight streaming into the room, the light was behind Lex, casting his face entirely in shadow.

"Come now, Lex. You don't owe me any favors and we certainly don't like each other, I still don't understand why you'd come to me with this."

"Because I see something in you." Lex met his gaze from the shadows. "Because I know given the chance to make the world better, you would take it. I'm not asking for anything from you, just that you make sure as many people as possible be given access to my technology. Once upon a time, I might've tried to do it myself, but I've got more things to create. These are all proven technologies that I've moved beyond. When I look back on all the time, money and effort I wasted on hating Superman, I am ashamed. I could've made the world paradise and I still have a chance to do it." He pointed at Bruce, "I'm giving you the chance to change it with me. We're more alike than you realize."

He frowned at Luthor. "I'm nothing like you."

"Right now, that's true. I've moved past the monkey on my back." Lex favored him with a last, sad smile. "Can you?"

Bruce was silent as Lex moved towards the door. He glanced over his shoulder and said, ""I'm certain you'll need a little time to think about it. I'll have my secretary call yours in a few days." With that, Lex turned, beckoning to Mercy and stepped out of the door and made his way out of stately Wayne Manor.

Alfred returned after leading the pair out of the house and stepped next to Bruce, who was still staring at the flash drive in his hand. "That was certainly unusual, Master Bruce."

"Yes, it was." He replied with a grunt. "I'm not sure what his angle is."

"You don't suppose he was actually sincere?" Alfred asked with that flat, deadpan delivery that made Bruce suspect him of making a poor imitation of a joke. Bruce's raised eyebrow in mute reply was enough to make the butler crack a tiny smile.

"Still..." Bruce stood and gestured to Alfred. He produced a small cellphone from his pocket and handed it over wordlessly to his master. Bruce tapped in a number from memory, still eying the flash drive in his hand. "Lucius? It's Bruce. I've had a very weird visit... no, it's not Madonna this time... Lex Luthor... Yes, that one... He just gave me all of LexCorp's secrets, or so he says. I need some of our researchers to check this thing over... Full security measures, isolated server, clean room. The works. This could be some sort of trap, but if it's what he says it is, we need to know... Yes, if you have any LexCorp personnel available who can look this data over that would be better... Thank you... Yes, send a courier over to pick it up. I'll need the results right away."

Alfred accepted the phone back. "Is this wise, sir?"

"Perhaps not." He replied thoughtfully. "But, you saw him, right? There was something very strange about how Luthor was acting. He was lecturing me about wasted chances."

"I suppose a case could be made for that if one were only observing your life from the outside, Master Bruce."

He nodded back. They were both mindful of the same thing. The possibility that the so-called drive was some sort of surveillance device. Wayne Manor had superb security. Far better than one would possibly expect, even for the home of a rich and private recluse, but this was Luthor, they were dealing with. The man's cunning and brilliance were unmatched. If there were some way of bypassing Wayne Manor's security, Lex would be the one to find it.

But still... his behavior was beyond strange, Bruce thought. He was about to leave the Peach Drawing room with it's off-kilter floor and slightly out of true pictures when Cassandra, dressed only in a black sweater stepped into the room. She was barefoot and barelegged, walking with an unconscious graceful elegance. "Where did bald man go?"

Bruce smiled at her lightly. "Bald man, huh? Accurate as far as the description goes. He left already."

She nodded. "Watching." She said, pointing up at the security camera hidden in the ceiling.

"What did you think?"

"Truth."

Alfred's brow furrowed, "You believe he was telling the truth?"

"He did. He... believed he was telling truth. Very... sincere. But not all truth."

"That's not surprising." Bruce said grimly.

"No... not lying. Just holding something back. Very... he's... very at peace, but there's anger there. A lot. It's in every move. He's frustrated. And angry. Packed down tight. Deep. Not obvious, but very there." She replied haltingly, a slight frown on her brow. "But all truth to him."

"So he really did mean what he said?" Bruce asked slowly.

She nodded. "Yes. And it makes him... angry." She slammed a fist into the palm of her hand for emphasis.


	6. Chapter 6

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 6**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Luthor leaned back, feeling the pop and crackle in his joints as an hour's worth of staying in one position caught up with him. The last few uploads of simplified versions of old LexCorp tech designs onto the websites, forums and mailing groups were at last complete. The light in his lair was purely artificial, but he was certain it was morning already. He'd promised Bruce Wayne his tech to give away, but he hadn't promised it to him exclusively. The simpler, less efficient designs that he'd sent out would serve to get people's attention. Hobbyists and techie types would try to put them together and on finding that they worked, would no doubt be interested in more. There'd be those who had the training and intelligence to make changes and improvements. He'd limited it to the technologies and discoveries that would be difficult to weaponize. Limiting it to specific applications that could be used to improve people's lives. Obviously there would be ways to turn nearly anything to less ethical uses, but he wasn't going to make it easy. It would cut into WayneTech profits, if they did deign to bring the designs out, but in the long run the attention would bring them more potential profits.

He turned his neck, savoring the loud crackling pop. He never imagined that he'd turn LexCorp's technical database open source, but if there was anything that would attract the attention of his prey, it would be strange behavior; off-pattern things. Every act calculated to be as uncharacteristic of Lex Luthor as possible. He squinted blearily at the clock on his computer monitor and realized that it was late enough in the morning that Eve Teschmacher would be awake already. As limited as his current resources were, they were still considerable and they needed careful tending. Ms. Teschmacher tended to whatever details Lex couldn't be bothered to pay attention to.

He picked up the earpiece for his cell phone from its charging station at his desk and slipped it on. He tapped the speed dial button and waited for her to pick up. She worked out of her loft in Little Bohemia in Metropolis. An overpriced, under-furnished conceit that Lex had visited a few times. He'd asked her to move into LexCorp tower a few times before it collapsed, but it was just as well she'd turned it down. After three rings, she finally picked up. Her voice was perky, cheerful and had a broad streak of New Jersey that no amount of fancy elocution lessons would ever eliminate.

"Good morning, Mr. L! How're you doing?"

"Forgot to sleep again, by the looks of things, my dear Eve. It is morning, right?"

"Just a little after dawn, Mr. L. So it's close enough for government work." He could hear the sunny smile in her voice. She was a balm to his soul, as much as her efficiency was a boon to his business.

"Did I give you a raise yet this month, Ms. Teschmacher?" He said conversationally. He almost always asked her this.

"Mr. L, I handle all your finances. I already gave myself a raise. And I cleaned out your Cayman Island accounts while I was at it."

He laughed. "If I thought for a minute you were telling the truth, I'd send Mercy over to your place to spank you."

"Mr. L!" Her voice pretended shock, but her amusement shone through clearly. Lex never could understand how she could be such a morning person. He did fine during mornings, but usually as a result of not sleeping the night before. "You wouldn't do that. I mean not unless you were coming along to watch at least. I think Mercy might enjoy it a little too much, and it'd be kind of a waste if you didn't get to see."

He gave another full-throated laugh. "I'll have to think about that one, Eve."

"You do that, Mr. L." She replied primly, but he was certain she was smiling.

"In any case, I didn't get a chance to chat with you yesterday... was there anything that needed my attention?"

"Nothing big, Mr. L. Although we did get a call back from a Mr. Fox with WayneTech."

"Ah, I was expecting that. What did he say?"

"He wanted to confirm about clause seventeen on the manufacturing licenses you gave them."

"I assume you told him that Waynetech absolutely had to bring the products out under the LexCorp label?"

"Of course, Mr. L. In fact he said that Mr. Wayne suggested reincorporating the old LexMedical with WayneTech's existing pharmaceutical division to explore their options with those new drugs. They were looking at the original clinical trials and were going to do some of their own studies before they asked for FDA approval."

"That sounds like a lovely idea, Eve." Lex said, with a broad smile on his face. "It'll probably take them months or years yet before we can expect anything on the market, but at least they're really moving now."

Ms. Teschmacher's voice came back across the earpiece low and drawn. "Mr L... Lex?"

"Yes?"

"Can I tell you something, sir? I mean, something really serious?" She sounded robbed of her usual vibrancy and surprisingly young. Lex knew she was in her early thirties, but she sounded like she was in her teens all of a sudden.

"Of course, dear Eve. Anything."

"Now, I know you don't like it when people second guess you... or when they try to question your decisions?"

"Yes?" He prodded gently, not sure what she was trying to say.

"This decision to give out your discoveries like you did... I know I argued with you about it not making much economic sense, right?"

"That you did." He replied, then added, "Some things are more important than money."

"I'm really glad I didn't talk you out of it, sir." She said after a long pause. "I'm very proud of the decision you made. I'm very proud of you and I'm very proud to be working for you."

Lex was dumbfounded. He'd had her loyalty from years before and she'd always taken a certain fierce attachment towards him, but nothing like this. The tone of her voice was... he swallowed heavily and felt his eyes sting. "That's... I mean... thank you." He said gravely and was glad that he hadn't activated the video phone. It would not do for him to look as choked up as he felt. Chalk it up to the long night. His emotions were a little too close to the surface and his exhaustion kept him from his usual steely control. "That means a great deal to me, Eve."

"And if you ever... you know... decide to take me up on my offers, I am really serious." He didn't need video phone to realize she was winking. The statement defused the atmosphere and Lex found himself smiling again.

"What me and Mercy?" He responded with mock astonishment.

"Why not?" She laughed lightly, letting the tone drift back to the playful businesslike one she often used in communications with him.

A tap on the shoulder alerted Lex of company. He turned in his swivel chair and found Mercy in a short, fluffy bathrobe, arms crossed and with an eyebrow raised at him. "You and me, what, Lex?"

He put a hand over the earpiece, which did nothing at all to mute his voice, but gave the impression of it to the statuesque redhead. "I'm talking to Eve, Mercy." He knew full well that Ms. Teschmacher was listening and the laughter filtering into his one ear was testament to that.

Mercy sniffed at Lex. "You tell her if she really wants a good time that she ought to just see me. You have no stamina."

The renewed howls of laughter from his earpiece told Lex that Eve had heard her.

"You know, you're both my employees and I could fire you." He said with a scowl.

"I handle HR and payroll, Lex. I'd just hire us both back." Eve replied. Mercy meanwhile just smiled nastily.

"By the way," Mercy pointed a thumb back towards her shoulder towards the mezzanine where her room was. "There's something really weird coming out of the docks. I saw it in my window and I figured the force field could handle it. I thought you'd want to know."

Lex frowned slightly and tapped a few buttons on his keyboard. He glanced towards the slide panel, allowing the mists to clear to present a view of the outside. The warehouse was the size of a small car in the center of the cube. Lex adjusted another control, zooming the image out until the warehouse was the size of a small desk in one corner of the panel. At the opposite corner, rising out of the docks was a huge, chunkily built humanoid form. Lex did a few brief calculations in his head based on the scale and realized that it was at least fifty feet tall. It stomped down the street making a straight line for the warehouse. Every parked car in its path and the street itself became a target for it's wrath, smashing through almost every single one with a single-minded determination. By the time it had made it to the first intersection, the only vehicle that hadn't been attacked was a white panel van driving down the street which had somehow escaped the giant's attention.

Lex noted with some minor alarm that the part of the docks it had risen from, and crushed with its weight, was the closest exit for the escape tunnel under his home. That emotion was short-lived, however. What filled him more now was annoyance, just shy of anger.

"It kind of looks familiar." Mercy said mildly.

"It's Chemo." Lex spat disgustedly. He could hear Ms. Teschmacher asking questions, but he realized a few other things and said to her, "Eve, I'm going to have to cut this a little short. Something urgent's come up." Without waiting for a reply, he closed the connection and put the earpiece back on its charging station on the table. He tapped a few buttons on the keyboard and pulled up several websites on two of the smaller monitors surrounding his main one. From the angle she was at, Mercy couldn't see either clearly, but whatever it was, it obviously upset Lex as he swore under his breath.

He walked over to one of his work benches, the one he'd set up for chemistry experiments and began pulling a few bottles together. "I've been expecting them to try something for weeks now and this is the best they could do? Chemo? Chemo?! It's an insult. In more ways than one."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

He filled a flask with white, powdery substance from one of the bottles. "The message here is obvious. They can make a mess of my life. Sending something that has a five word vocabulary was just a bit of insult added to injury."

"If it's an insult, it's an awfully big one." She said, eying the image on the panel.

He filled a large test tube with dull gray nuggets from another bottle. "The other insult is that they made it painfully obvious who they've sent after me."

"It's taller than the warehouse, Lex. I think it would be obvious."

"I mean, I know who sent it. That means I'll finally have someone to interrogate once I take care of this thing." He sealed the now filled test tube with a rubber stopper. "Whenever Chemo is captured, it's held in a joint EPA and Department of Corrections facility in White Sands, New Mexico. The DEO has oversight. If any of those three agencies released it, there would've been a record on the DoC database of its release. I just checked and as of midnight last night, Chemo is still listed as a guest of the Federal Government."

"Go on?"

"Chemo isn't exactly going to win any land speed records. There's no possible way it could get from White Sands to Hob's Head bay in under five hours. Which tells me it was released much earlier, by someone who can bypass DoC record keeping," He put the test tube it inside the flask and sealed that. He eyed it critically, then glanced back to the slide. "That sound familiar to you?" He said with a tight smile.

Mercy didn't like the expression on his face but knew exactly what he was talking about, "Like Belle Reeve?"

"Precisely." He shook the flask and its payload thoughtfully.

She shot the flask a worried look, "What're you doing, Lex?"

"We can't let Chemo get too close to the warehouse." He replied testily.

"Why?" Mercy asked, "The field should keep it out long enough for the boyscout to take care of it, right?"

His lip twitched as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the other monitor he'd looked at. "The Superwatch site has the boyscout over New Delhi right now dealing with Kobra suicide bombers on a half dozen commercial flights. He's going to be busy for at least half an hour."

"The field can last that long, right?"

Lex nodded as he finished his preparations. For a moment, she wasn't certain if he was responding to her or to what he'd put together. "Yes, the field could last that long, but this is Chemo. At his current rate of progress, he'll be at the edge of the field in ten minutes. In the remaining twenty minutes until the boyscout gets here, assuming he doesn't get distracted, Chemo could eat his way through the foundations of the entire dock. The field might stay up, Mercy, but he could get us through the floor. Someone's directing him. He already broke through the escape tunnel and blocked it off." He gave a disgusted shake of his head before turning back to the desk. He set the flask down and began rummaging through it. "Did you go to the Lex-Mart last night?"

She was jarred by the sudden change in topic and didn't respond for a few seconds. This prompted Lex to look up from his search and raise his eyebrows at her. She finally snapped out of it with a nod. "Yes, I picked up some things while you were fiddling."

"Did you get your usual value-size bags of Snack-pockets?"

"Yes?" She asked, drawing the last 's' sound out just a little out of suspicion. Although Lex was willing and able to live on junk food for extended periods when he was in the throes of his creative process, he loathed Snack-pockets. They were little pastries filled with various meats and cheeses that Mercy adored.

"How many bags, Mercy?" He asked drily.

"Just a dozen." She replied defensively.

He gave a shout of triumph as he pulled his key-chain along with it's remote control fob free of the mess on his desk. In his other hand he held the fully assembled sonic pulse disruptor. Mercy noted with some relief that the safety on it was still on. "That's about, what? Close to sixty pounds of food, right?" He asked a moment later.

"Yes, why are you asking?"

"I'm going to need it. Start loading all of it into--" He shrugged, "I don't know. Pick which one of the cars you don't like."

"Like the Jag?"

He gave her a look of distaste. "You only dislike the Jag because the upholstery has all those stains."

"And the alignment's shot." She replied back. "Why are you picking on my Snack-pockets, Lex?"

"I need them to stop Chemo." He responded before moving back to another of his work tables.

"I know you don't like them, but that's a bit extreme. You're going to feed him my Snack-pockets?" She asked incredulously.

"I'm going to feed him a bomb." He smirked and she felt a little flutter in her stomach that she clamped down on. Hard. She always liked how he looked when he was in crisis mode. She just wished she had his old security detail in LexCorp Power armor handy. Hell, even the Secret Service guys would've been an improvement. Right now, all she had on hand to protect him with... was her. He shooed her towards the freezer before fumbling with the key-fob to raise the Jag and prepare it to exit the warehouse.

It took Mercy just a few minutes to haul the big frozen bags of Snack-pockets, shoving them into the back seat at Lex's direction. He opened a large, vacuum sealed bottle that he'd gotten from a work bench and began dousing the cold, closed bags with the thick tarry sludge. The flask of the powder that he had the test tube inside of, he shoved into the center of the mess in the back seat. It reeked with a cloying, organic stench and Mercy could swear that it was spreading a lot faster than it really should have. She gave a half-hearted sigh as she bid her delicious snackiness good-bye.

Another glance at the panel confirmed that Chemo was most definitely headed towards the warehouse. It deviated every once in a while to break off a sign or pick up a car and shove it into its cavernous maw of a mouth. The sliding panel didn't provide any color, but Lex had no difficulty imagining the luridly bright green of its interior.

Lex was about to slide into the driver's seat when Mercy's glare stopped him cold. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to drive." Lex replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Nice try. You're staying here, this is obviously going to be dangerous."

Lex favored her with a tight, unpleasant smile as he opened the garage door. Chemo was framed by the now opened door down the street. "I'm not going to argue this with you, Mercy. I know what needs to be done, you don't."

"How hard could it be? I ram him with the car and it explodes, right?" She stood at her full height, summoning up all the dignity she could muster in her short bathrobe and bunny slippers.

Lex shook his head and beckoned her over, "No, no, no. I don't have time. You drive, I'm on shotgun." He held up the disruptor. "Drive towards him. I'm going to goad him into eating the car."

"I hope this doesn't get us killed, boss." She said as she revved the engine.

"You and me both." He shot back, glancing over his shoulder to ensure that the black goop was now beginning to eat into the white-stained upholstery.

"Not that, Lex. It's just that I'm not wearing clean underwear." She said in a deadpan as the car shot out of the garage, aimed straight for Chemo's leg.

Lex laughed, "Well, at least if we screw this up, I'm going to die with a smile."

The Jaguar's finely tuned engine roared as she floored it. They were on a definite collision course for Chemo. The green giant paused in the middle of shoving another car into it's mouth, catching sight of the car. Lex had his head and an arm sticking out of the window, trying to aim at the huge, toxic target. It was big enough to hit easily, but the car's motion wasn't helping.

Chemo roared menacingly. It's limited mental processes being driven by insidious means came to the obvious conclusion that the approaching vehicle was some sort of danger to it. It hurled the crushed remains of the car in hand at the Jaguar. Three tons of mangled, half-melted metal that was hurtling towards them did little to improve Lex's aim.

He swore luridly and pulled his head back into the car, bracing himself uselessly. Mercy hadn't blinked. She slammed the brakes suddenly, giving the wheel a savage twist as she did so. The car skidded, the twisting and sudden change in it's speed and orientation sent the Chemo propelled projectile slamming into the pavement short of their vehicle. The impact was so intense that the huge metal missile bounced. Mercy shifted suddenly, pounding the accelerator, sending the Jag surging sideways, sliding towards Chemo, with the passenger side on the leading edge of their skid. Lex noted absently that Mercy was cursing the front alignment roundly the whole way. The movement sent the car sliding under the bouncing metal with only inches to spare. Smaller pieces fell away, peppering the Jaguar in a rain of edged metal and glass.

Lex, noting how little distance still separated their vehicle from Chemo flicked his gaze over his shoulder at the now completely ruined back seat. The black sludge had congealed and was now eating into the seat and upholstery. He eyeballed the amount and estimated that it was almost at the right size. He took aim once more. Mercy was starting to get control back otthe car from the skid, but it was a near thing. In that expanded moment when adrenaline filled the body and every second became an hour, Lex twisted the control to ten. He didn't consider Chemo to be a truly credible threat, but at the end of the day, it was still fifty feet tall, strong enough to tip buildings over, largely invulnerable and completely filled with the most rampantly toxic and caustic substances known to man. Sometimes, full power was the only correct response.

The sonic pulse was only visible as a slight distortion in the air. A tightly expanding cone of concentrated sound shot forward to strike roughly where a knee would be on a normal human. Had that been normal flesh and blood knee, even one on that scale, the results would have been horrific. The full kinetic force generated by the weapon would have liquified bone and vibrated flesh so fast that it would have flashed to steam. The results on Chemo were far less dramatic in appearance, but no less profound. The only obvious initial result was a sudden profusion of bubbles exploding up and out from where the "joint" was. It's shell rippled and flexed, as though someone had punched a half-filled water mattress. The gigantic construct gave an agonized cry, dropping to it's good knee to clutch at the bubbling section.

Lex considered that a good sign. Normally the simplified soup of chemicals that served as Chemo's nervous system was immune to pain, but boiling those same chemicals was obviously enough to get its attention. The car's skidding was taking straight to the pained construct at an uncomfortably high rate of speed. Lex pulled his arm back, gritting his teeth and intending to duck as he realized the Jag was going to slam into Chemo passenger-side door first. Before Lex could complete ducking on his own, he felt a hand close on his shirt front, dragging him with incredible strength and speed downward. He felt his face pressed into Mercy's bare lap as she covered him with her own body. He thought to himself that under different circumstances, it would've been an interesting and pleasant experience. In fact, a slightly panicked and hysterical portion of his mind was prompting him to start making motorboat noises into her thighs. It was on that bizarre note that the car crashed into Chemo.

Chemo was not having a great morning and gave another pained howl as the car's impact disturbed the already agitated and broiled neuro-chemicals in its luridly green body. The entire passenger's side was staved in on Chemo's foot. The windscreen was spider-webbed with cracks. The giant's face had twisted into as close an approximation of fury as it could given its limitations. It reached down, taking the car between its massive hands, and lifting it.

As it straightened up, bringing the ruined Jaguar with it, the driver's side door burst open. Mercy leaped out before Chemo could lift the car higher than five feet. She was dragging Lex behind her with almost contemptuous ease. They were both covered in small cuts and bruises. The front of Lex's shirt had lost most of its buttons, while the tie on Mercy's robe had come undone, but had not quite fallen open enough to be indecent.

"Move, move, move!" She roared at him, dragging him along and trying to put distance between them and the captured car. Chemo squeezed the car between its hands, compressing it and twisting it into a shape that it could cram into its mouth. Lex had seen it do this before. It was Chemo's means of dealing with anything that upset it. Eat it and let the stew of toxicity that served as its innards sort it out. It was exactly what Lex was counting on, although he didn't quite count on having to get that close. In the original plan he had in his head, he would've been able to jump out before the car crashed into Chemo, but no plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

They took shelter behind a white panel van parked on the curb. An anonymous enough vehicle, but Lex suspected that it was the same one he'd noticed earlier.

"What's the rest of the plan, Lex?" Mercy asked.

Lex peeked around the end of the van, noting the the smashed remains of the Jag were now floating inside Chemo. The material composing it was beginning to deform and fall away. Entire sections peeling away and dissolving into the green that was Chemo. Lex glanced down at his watch and nodded. "I think we gave it enough time. You didn't get any of the gunk from the back seat on your clothes did you?"

"No, no... what was that?"

"Just something I showed Bruce Wayne." Lex said with a smirk. "Any minute now."

Chemo gave another roar, the crushed car within its body was leaking some sort of dark substance that was not diluting into Chemo. The creature was now squirming, dropping down to all fours as shudders wracked it's immense frame. Clutching and grasping fingers tore furrows into the street. The black stain within its body was spreading and bubbles were flowing in steady streams out of the wrecked Jag. Within seconds, the stain had suffused a third of Chemo's substance.

Lex cursed under his breath once more, glancing from his watch to Chemo, then back again. "Almost... any minute now."

Mercy could only stare. "You did this to Chemo with my Snack-pockets?"

Lex folded his arms across his chest and smirked at her. "I told you those things would kill you."

"No, seriously, what did you do to it?"

"Remember the garbage eating bacteria I developed?"

"Yes, didn't you give the designs for it to Wayne?"

"Yes, yes... remember what it does to what it eats?"

"Turns it into black sludge." Despite the situation, she smacked him hard on the shoulder. "You sludged my Snack-pockets?"

Lex winced, rubbed his shoulder and continued crossly. "The more of the bacteria we had on hand, the faster it converts more things into sludge. The beauty of exponential growth. I needed it to be big enough that it would be able to grow faster than Chemo could kill the bacterial colonies. Seventy pounds of organic material eaten up by my little pets would've just gotten it to the limit. Between the upholstery, the seats and your groceries, we had just enough."

"So you sacrificed them to sludge Chemo?"

"Not entirely. Chemo's too big to entirely convert before the growth limits I put on the stuff kick in. Worse, considering how quickly Chemo can consume material and convert it to its own substance, if it takes too long, it'll recover."

"What exactly are we waiting for then? How long is this going to keep it down?"

"We're waiting for that test tube to break or the bacteria to eat through the rubber stoppers, but it's taking longer than I expected." Lex glanced back down at his watch, then again at the convulsing giant. The black stain's rampant growth had spread through at least half of Chemo's substance, but it was clearly slowing. Any longer and it would reverse. The crushed jag still floated serenely in the center of the black and green figure like a jagged metal heart.

Despite nearly being half blackened, Chemo was clearly recovering. It was rising to its feet again and as much as any expression could be read in its face, it was furious. Its eyes swung too and fro, seeking the architect of its pain. It roared, stomping down hard on the already shattered pavement.

"Then what happens?" Mercy asked nervously, trying to force herself to be as small as possible behind the limited cover that they had.

Lex clicked his tongue and then looked down at the disruptor he still had in hand. "I'm an idiot."

"What happens, Lex?" Mercy shouted at him, but he'd already stepped out from behind the Van and was facing down Chemo, the disruptor in both hands, taking careful aim at the giant's chest.

Chemo saw him and wasted no time. Despite its bulk it started to run, charging Lex. Every motion was turned to the goal of reducing the man into a dirty smear at the bottom of one immense foot.

Lex pulled the trigger, shooting Chemo in the chest with his sonic disruptor. The already crushed jag shattered under the impact of the beam of sound, then a curious thing happened... the black streaks and pools closest to its now broken metal heart flared, igniting within the enfolding green liquid. Another scream came, this time from the van near them. Chemo's useless mouth mirrored that sound, opening soundlessly as the flames spread throughout the black petrochemical sludge and setting the green chemicals boiling.

Chemo burned within its own plastic skin, mouth distorted in horror. It skidded to a stop, clutching at its chest uselessly as it pitched forward, face first. Its writing was worse than before, the plastic was beginning to bubble and distort in spots and every so often flames would pop out, flaring brightly before the remelting plastic sealed over the opening, enclosing the flame once more.

Lex grinned savagely, the fallen behemoth mere feet away from him as he held up the disruptor in triumph. He called over his shoulder at Mercy. "That's what happens. That is what always happens when you mess with Lex Luthor."

Mercy, despite herself and despite having seen him in similar situations was still very impressed. And more than a little turned on.

He walked back towards the van and to Mercy, who was realizing that one sleeve of her robe was starting to slide down her shoulder. He was speaking over the screaming. "Chemo's internal structure has a great deal of water. Water plus sodium results in an exothermic reaction. Hot enough to set white phosphorous on fire. White phosphorous burns hot enough that it will burn under water. Fire hot enough to set long chained hydrocarbons burning. The exact same type of flammable hydrocarbons my lovely little bacteria create out Chemo's own body. The burn isn't fast enough to create an explosion, but more than sufficient to boil Chemo alive. Basic chemistry, one; Chemo, zero."

He casually flicked down the disruptor to a more sedate setting. He shattered the lock and flung doors open with his free hand. "Lex Luthor, one; Suicide Squad, zero!" He cried out gleefully, keeping the disruptor pointed at the interior of the now open van. The vehicle was filled with surveillance equipment of every kind. There were a few chairs within, but they could be moved around easily. There was no passenger seat and the driver's seat was set up in such a way that it could be turned around to face the back area.

The screaming was coming from a bearded midget in a ratty, gray suit. His hair was a lank tangle framing an unpleasant little face that was twisted in terrible pain. Further in the van, sitting on the contoured driver's chair and holding a pair of pistols on Lex and Mercy was a mustached man in a tan overcoat. Beneath the coat, a distinctive red and gray uniform peeked out. The man had a greasy look to him that was reflected in the smirk he wore. "Luthor," the man greeted cordially with a nod.

"Lawton." Lex called back pleasantly. He knew Deadshot. The man was a consummate professional whose services he had hired on more than one occasion.

With the exchange of pleasantries, a fresh bout of screaming came from the writhing little troll of a man on the floor of the van. The bald man quirked an eyebrow at Floyd Lawton and asked, "Do you mind?"

The other man gave a slight waggle to one of his guns and shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Mercy." Lex said, "Can you give us some quiet?"

"Sure thing, Lex," she replied, already having rearranged her robe to protect her limited modesty. She recognized the screamer as none other than Doctor Psycho. A misogynistic, telepathic dwarf whose name was a good a description of him as any. Normally she might not have been so sanguine about hitting a man who was already in so much pain, but in this instance she was willing to make an exception. She cocked a fist up and punched down hard, striking him in the jaw, causing his head to snap back and slam hard into the floor of the van with a dull clang, knocking him mercifully unconscious. At the moment of that impact, Chemo gave a tremendous flinch, smashing the already wrecked street into so much rubble and making the van jump.

Deadshot nodded appreciatively. "He was gettin' on my nerves." The whole time the guns remained trained on Lex and Mercy.

Lex noted the slight tightening of the man's wrists. He was a fraction of a second away from pulling the triggers on the guns, but was hesitating only because of the disruptor in Lex's hand. Lex could understand Deadshot's concern. After all, he'd just apparently set Chemo on fire from the inside with it, so it wasn't a weapon to trifle with, but Floyd Lawton was a seasoned combatant. Lex could see him weighing the risks in his mind. Best to nip that in the bud now he reasoned.

"How's the daughter?" Lex asked. The tone was pleasant and friendly, but Deadshot read what he needed to know from those three words. Lex knew about his kid. It implied all sorts of things that the mild tone did not convey. Lawton pulled his guns up and thumbed the safeties.

"Leave her out of it, Luthor. I'm serious." Deadshot said with dangerous emphasis.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Luthor said, sliding the disruptor into his pants pocket and holding his open hands out to Floyd. "You've got a comms set up in this thing, Lawton. I need to speak to the fat woman."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The man stuck his unshaven chin out with stubborn and convincing ignorance.

"I can secure your cooperation in five words, Floyd. Do you really need me to say them?" Lex said mildly, leaning against the van's door. Mercy had taken up her usual station next to him, doing her best to project dignity despite the bedraggled nature of her torn robe.

"If you think y'can get me to help you, y'can try saying it."

Lex shook his head and spoke slowly and clearly. "I can remove your collar."

Floyd's face split into an immense grin. "Lemme get her on the horn for you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 7**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

"Let's do this in a more relaxed environment." Luthor had said. Which was how Floyd Lawton, also known as Deadshot to the law enforcement community at large, found himself shoved out of the driver's seat by a Junoesque red-head wearing only a fluffy, tattered robe, slippers and an impatient scowl.

She drove the car up the street for a short distance, easily avoiding the wreckage generated by Chemo in it's rampage and proceeded towards the warehouse where Luthor had been living. The man himself had produced a roll of duct tape from somewhere and was happily tying up the unconscious psycho munchkin. Floyd was even further impressed when Lex then taped the gun he had... some sort of energy beam or laser or some other sci-fi crap like that... and rigged up some string in such a way that if Doctor Psycho moved in any way, especially those ways he tended to move his head in when he was trying to psychically influence people, then the gun would go off right under his chin.

That was fine by the mercenary. He'd never liked the useless spud. He'd been an annoyance in the van, and while Floyd would be the first to admit that he wasn't exactly a feminist of any stripe, the raw misogyny the little guy kept spewing got tiresome really quickly.

"So you just wanted a little chat with the fat lady?" Floyd asked as Lex fiddled with a keyfob, prompting a garage door to reopen in the side of the warehouse. The same one the doomed Jag had driven out of. The woman, Mercy, Floyd remembered, drove straight in.

Lex nodded, "Indeed. And I don't see any reason why I shouldn't get comfortable before we give her a call."

Lawton shrugged. "Suits me. Got any grub in this place?"

Their driver gave a petulant sniff. "We did. But Lex blew up my Snack-pockets."

Luthor tsked and said dryly, "You know, a good chauffer is seen and not heard."

She snorted at that, as she rose out of the seat and out the van. Floyd had to admit that he enjoyed the process... there was a whole lot of woman moving and shifting out of that confining seat. "I'm off the clock, out of uniform and really hungry, so you can stuff it, Mr. Luthor."

Luthor shook his head and muttered to Floyd as an aside, "It's so hard to get good help these days."

He gave a wry smile back to the bald man and replied. "You guys sound like an old married couple."

Mercy gave a harsh bark of a laugh on her way up the stairs to the mezzanine. "Lex only wishes."

"So where's she going?" Floyd asked after she was out of sight. She was certainly easy on the eyes leaving.

"Probably to get changed."

Floyd raised a speculative eyebrow and asked Luthor, "Think she'd want any help?"

Lex shrugged, "Do you like having unbroken legs?"

"Good point." Lawton agreed.

Lex ran a hand over his bare scalp thoughtfully for a moment, straightened his ruined shirt, then clapped his hands together. "In any case, seeing as how Chemo has deprived us of breakfast, I feel that it's a good a time as any to ruin someone else's morning. Where's the coms set up?"

Floyd pointed to a panel just next to the tied up Doctor Psycho and Lex gave a nod.

"You sure you can get this thing off me, Luthor?" Floyd asked, revealing the silver band previously hidden by the high-necked collar of his uniform.

Luthor nodded absently as he pried the panel loose from the side of the van. "Yes, I can. I can also make it blow up any time I want, so please try not to annoy me. I'm working here."

Floyd shut up and wandered over to see if Luthor at least stocked beer.

- - -

Luthor hummed idly to himself as he pulled the whole communication setup from the van and wired it to his own equipment. Truthfully it was completely unnecessary. He could've just made the call from the back of the van, but the thought of seeing Amanda Waller's expression amused him to no end. Hence, the incoproation of the satellite radio equipment into the Slide Panel. It was simple enough but it still took him a few minutes.

In that time, Doctor Psycho was still asleep. He'd decided not to take any chances and made some changes to his improvised restraints by also including a choloroform spritzer on a timer. There were some toxicity issues in the long run with such a setup, but Lex wasn't planning on keeping the dangerous little man around any longer than absolutely necessary. If he suffered from a little brain damage or got cancer as a result, it was no great loss to the world.

Deadshot had made himself at home on Lex's couch, a frosty bottle of beer in his hand appropriated from Mercy's stash. Mercy herself had come back down from her room and looked far more like the paragon of efficiency that she posed as. Fortified by a few strong cups of coffee, she looked as though she was fully prepared to ignore the events of earlier that morning and start the day anew.

Lex was still in his ruined casual clothes. Badly torn slacks, his button down shirt had lost buttons and was hanging open with a sleeve missing. He was just about to place the call when he noticed the ragged edge of cloth where his cuff should have been. He caught Mercy's eye and she raised an eyebrow at his condition. Morning snarkiness muted now that she was in uniform and properly caffienated.

He nodded silently and stalked to the bathroom to make himself more presentable. He wouldn't really be letting the Wall see him, but it always did his mood good to be presentable. The adrenaline high of having taken down Chemo (and Doctor Psycho in the bargain) with a sonic weapon, sixty pounds of Snack-pockets, a basic chemistry set and some cultured bacteria was wearing off and he was not only feeling the car crash in his wretched shoulder, but the previous sleepless night spent seeding the internet with his wonders was catching up to him as well. He briefly considered catching another power nap before giving the fat woman a call, but there really was no time like the present.

He stepped back out, washed and dressed in a well pressed suit. He was attired for battle. He stopped at the couch, standing over Deadshot for a moment and giving him an assessing look. "Why did the Wall send just you, the toxic waste dump on two legs and the psycho?"

Lawton shrugged, "Do I look like I could read her mind?" He tilted his chin towards the bound and drugged little man. "Well, he probably could, but I wouldn't trust that one any further than I could throw 'im."

"What exactly did she order you to do?"

"The shrimp was supposed to either make you kill yourself with his brain or get you to step outside where I could put a bullet in ya. Then he'd call in the Jolly Green Giant out there to completely trash the place."

"Did she say why she needed me dead?"

Lawton gave a tired shake of his head. "Mr. Luthor, you know I'm crap at asking questions."

"So why did Chemo end up getting sent first?" Lex asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, we were in that van a couple of days. The runt kept complaining that he couldn't get his telepathy past the walls of the building, so we figured you had some sort of psychic dampeners in the walls. He starts gettin' antsy about the long wait. After a while, he gets really pissed off... I think he was using the binoculars to peek in on your driver? Anyway, he calls Chemo up with his brain and tells it to just trash the place. I was busy trying to get him to put it away, when you got out and did whatever it was that you did to Chemo. The runt was hooked up to whatever it is the green goop has for a nervous system, so he got fried too." Floyd took another long swig of beer. "Then you got us."

The surprise was evident on Lex's face. "Wait... you were the backup for him?"

The greasy man gave another shrug. "Like I said, I can't read the Wall's mind. If I had my way, I would've gone in solo. Taken a sniping position across the street. You like takin' out that sweet convertible on weekends. Woulda gotten you then. Couple of mines on the street as a distraction, then boom. One shot. Right between the eyes." He made a gun of his fingers and mimed shooting Lex.

Lex chuckled lightly. "You'd try, but it would not have worked. The roadster has a force field compensator that activates whenever the roof's down. Improves aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, but also keeps out rain and bullets."

"Which is why the mines I would've used would be EMP mines."

Luthor thought this over for a moment then gave a sharp nod. "I'm hiring you."

"I don't get a say in this?" Floyd asked with an amused smirk.

"You're on my couch, drinking my beer. I just need you to shoot a few people for me."

"Which people?"

"I'll be finding that out once I've spoken to your boss."

"She ain't going to like it." Floyd warned.

"You let me deal with her. Standard contract?"

Lawton sketched him a mock salute using the hand that still held the beer. "It's always a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Luthor. You understand that you get what you pay for."

Lex flashed the man a tight smile before turning back to the panel. Mercy was still standing where she'd been earlier, hands behind her back in parade rest that still left her highly alert. Lex knew she didn't like bringing Deadshot, a known assasin, much less the little Psycho, into the warehouse, but she wasn't in charge.

Luthor laughed lightly at the sour expression on her face and lightly tapped her chin with a finger, in playful admonishment. His face smoothed to schooled impassivity after that as he began tapping buttons on his keyboard. He made a few more adjustments and the panel began to fill with white mist once more.

The speakers blared out after a moment. "Floyd, what the hell's happened?"

Lex smirked as the image on the panel cleared, revealing Waller in her office, wrestling with an unruly headset as she raised her voice. He glanced over his shoulder at Lawton who was still drinking his beer. Lex put a finger to his lips. Lawton shrugged and hastily covered up a belch with his free hand.

"The morning news out of Metropolis has Chemo coming out of the bay and going on a rampage before it got stopped by Luthor. By your target, Deadshot." She said with derisive emphasis. "I had to find this out on the six o'clock news. I hope to God that you are dead, because otherwise you will be wishing you were very soon." Her voice was tight. Furious. She was just a tiny bit shy of shouting. Lex made a note that he'd apparrently made the news and idly tapped a quick search on one of his other monitors.

After a long, furious silence, during which time Lex got to see himself stand up... rather heroically it looked to him... to Chemo. A news helicopter had caught the earlier events and it was now showing on the networks. He smirked, letting the pressure build for the Wall just a touch longer. He could see she was getting madder and madder, but she was keeping a firm hold on it. "Deadshot, come in." She said once more. "I know you're there, the proximity sensors are telling me you're still alive and I know you can hear me."

Lex cleared his throat. "Mr. Lawton is indisposed at the moment. I'm the one who called you."

"Who the devil is this? This is a restricted line--"

"Amanda!" Lex said with an edge of mocking whine in his voice, "I've been out of office only a few months and you already don't recognize your former Commander-in-Chief's voice? I'm so hurt."

"Lex?" Her eyes widened as she cupped a hand over her ear to better hear. "How did you get--"

"I'm simply shocked that you didn't even recognize me, considering you managed to send a fairly incompetent assassination squad my way." He kept up the mocking, needling tone. She had a temper and he would use it to the best of his ability.

Her frown deepened, but her tone changed to try and match the subtle mockery in his. She knew the game as well as he. She was an experienced operator in the halls of high government. "Well, maybe I was a little miffed when you didn't call back after sticking your tongue in my mouth during your tenure, Mr. Ex-President Luthor."

Lex's eyebrow twitched at the memory of that. He was out of his mind on the drugs, but he did remember idly that the woman was a surprisingly good kisser. Lawton had clamped a hand over his mouth and was trying desperately not to laugh. Mercy glanced over at Amanda, then at Luthor and mouthed silently at him, "Chubby chaser."

"Well, I was buried under a building the morning after, so it was a tiny bit difficult." Lex responded dismissively.

"See? It's that sort of behavior that gives you a bad reputation with women," She chuckled, pleased to score a point against him.

"Now, now, Amanda... surely you wouldn't hold something like that against me. You've been in Washington a long time. I'm sure you've had others try to harass you before and I'm just as sure you didn't send a kill squad after them."

"How would you know?" Sarcasm laced her tone.

"I had access to all your files, remember? Even the ones you tried to hide from me." He smiles. She's certainly irritated, time to move in closer. "Amazing what one can turn up with a little digging and unlimited access to every database owned by the American government."

"What are you going on about, Luthor?" She snaps irritably. "What did you do?"

"I could tell you, Amanda, but I need to know why you tried to kill me. The real reason."

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Luthor." She denied.

Lex sighed, "Amanda, please do not insult my considerable intelligence by treating me like the usual Washington idiot that you deal with. You received orders from someone to have me neutralized. I interrogated your psychic midget after I took out the pile of green goo. He got really talkative, really quickly. You'd be amazed at how many ball pens one can stuff into a man's--"

She snorted, "Don't insult my intelligence, either, Lex. Doctor Psycho would've told you anything you wanted to hear if you smack him around hard enough."

"It's fortunate that he wasn't my sole source of information then." Lex's face grew grim as he stared right into the eyes of Waller's image. "Tell me what I want to know, or I spam every e-mail address I can find with the names, locations and cover identities of every intelligence and law enforcement asset the US has."

Her expression tightened. "You're bluffing."

"Try me."

"You don't have that information--"

"Unlimited access, remember?"

"Even if you did have it, it's more valuable unreleased. You'd never give up that kind of power." She sneered.

"It's not as important to me as you'd think. I've got bigger fish to fry. I can and will wreck this country if you push me. You know I could. You worked for me and you know what I'm capable of. I'll do it and make everyone believe it was your fault. With the push of a few buttons, I can break you. Do not test me, Waller." A smile bloomed on his face as worry began to break out on her expression. His voice dropped to a low, cold whisper. "Who. Wants. Me. Dead?"

"You really are Luthor, aren't you?" She spoke back, her voice gone soft as well.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She seemed to deflate for a moment, reaching a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "We received orders. The DEO acting on recommendations received from the CDC and Checkmate indicated that a Lex Luthor clone had been created and had holed up in Metropolis."

"A what?"

"DEO intelligence received from Checkmate field agents said that a terrorist organization, possibly the Winter Guard or the League of Assassins behind a Winter Guard front had created a Lex clone and stuffed it full of a weaponized strain of influenza. Supposedly you were to be released in Washington DC on a press junket and allowed to infect the entire city."

"You believed this drivel?" Lex asked in exasperation. "If I'm a Lex clone, where's the original supposed to be?"

"The Secret Service is supposedly babysitting Lex Luthor at the Hotel Ambassador in Prague. We had a paper trail, including e-tickets and a passport scan indicating that he'd flown there from Metropolis." She continued.

"An electronic paper trail that one of your analysts could dummy up in under twenty minutes."

"He has a Secret Service detail with him. All men with clean records."

"That should've been your first clue--"

"It was." She said with sarcastic emphasis. "You hated your Secret Service detail. The other thing they're reporting is that their Luthor's awfully polite."

Lex hmmed to himself and tapped a few more controls. "Is he still in Prague, do you know?"

"Last report I received placed him there within the past two hours. He was having lunch then. It should be around two in the afternoon there by now." She said.

"Who in the DEO sent the order, Amanda?"

"We don't know. All the correct protocols and authorizations were on it, but whoever actually drafted the order isn't named on the paperwork."

"I see."

"Your turn, Lex. What is going on?"

"You wouldn't believe me, Waller." Lex said sadly as his equipment began to give out a few excited beeps. The image of Waller shifted to one side of the slide as half the cube began to fill with mist.

"Try me, Lex." She said with surprising gentleness. "I'm being jerked around. I can tell. You don't get to my position without knowing when someone's trying to feed you a load of bull. You don't really think I would've sent Doctor Psycho of all people along on an operation against you if I actually wanted it to succeed, did you?"

Lex couldn't help but chuckle. "I was wondering about that. That level of operational incompetence from you had to have been deliberate."

"If I really wanted you dead for certain, I would've hired Deathstroke." She grinned cattily. On the couch, Deadshot gave an insulted snort, his professional pride stung. "Which I could still do if you don't tell me what's going on."

"Oh my." Lex said with a smirk. "Are you threatening me, Amanda?"

"Luthor, you know I never threaten if I don't need to. Do I need to?"

"Alright, but I doubt you'd believe me." Lex took a deep breath. "I have reason to believe that a conspiracy has been in operation since at least World War Two to cripple humanity's intellectual capacity and technological advancement."

The silence from the other end was palpable. Lex could see the look of plain disbelief on Waller's face, which twisted into an annoyed scowl. "Lex, you know I have some of the best geeks on the US Government can find on my payroll, don't you?"

"The ones who weren't smart enough to not get caught, yes. Certainly."

"You know that I could have one of these pencil-necked squints calculate how to nudge a weather satellite into reentry and send tons of burning metal screaming down on top of your head for fun."

Lex sighed. "I'm not lying, Waller. I have evidence. Perhaps nothing I can show to the public, because of the panic, but I have numbers, statistics, physical evidence, chemical analysis and public histories. We should've colonized the moon by now. We have the technological capacity for unlimited food and energy, but at every turn it has been kept out of our hands. It's worldwide, but I suspect it's being coordinated through an agency of the US Government."

Her expression was grave. "You cannot possibly be serious. We, and I include you in that 'we', Lex, have been involved in some seriously shady dealings, but what you're suggesting-- how would you even manage what you're describing?"

"They find individuals... gifted individuals and they expose them to psychotropic drugs and checmically induced neural damage to manufacture quick and dirty behavioral modifications. They vary their methods depending on the place. In many other parts of the world, they can induce a pliant mental state after exposure to make them vulnerable to social and cultural pressures to conform to the mass. Keep them from rocking the boat. In the US, on the east coast, they induce anti-social behavior and schizophrenia to isolate individuals and keep them from being able to share what they find. In the midwest, I've found evidence of specific, chemically induced brain damage designed to reduce inhibitions and decrease adrenal response. Turning generations of potential geniuses into near-suicidal danger junkies. The more I look, the more I find." His voice had turned brittle and hard.

"Lex," Waller's voice had softened somewhat. "Are you--"

"They did it to me, Amanda. They turned me into a grasping, greedy, self-centered bastard."

"I'm sorry you think so, Lex. But this is sounding an awful lot like you trying to find someone to blame for what you've done with your life." Her voice was consilatory. She was humoring him, Lex thought idly.

Lex shouted into the phone, "I do blame them for my life! Now that I've figured things out they're trying to kill me. They are making you try to kill me!"

"Do you know who, Lex? Who your 'them' is?"

"I just have suspicions, conjectures and theories on that now, but what you're telling me is a nice, big juicy piece of the puzzle."

"I'm... I'm not entirely without sympathy, for your position, Lex. But I think I need just a little bit more than your say-so before I believe you."

"I suspected as much." He glanced up idly at the second half of the cube which was now clear. It showed him, or someone who looked a great deal like him, sitting down for lunch at a well-appointed restaurant. Lex tapped a few more buttons, a blurring multitude of hotkeys and the image began to zoom in much closer, interposing the edge of the image with the faux Lex's head as it grew to dominate that half of the monitor. From the couch, Lawton was watching, obviously wondering what was going on, but not willing to interrupt his new employer. Mercy on the other hand, was an old pro at dealing with Lex's little theatrics and kept herself at parade rest.

"Tell you what, Amanda," Lex said distractedly. He switched monitors and opened up a mail program. "I'm sending you all of my research, my notes, and my findings. Have your tame geeks look them over and tell me I'm wrong."

"If this whole thing you're talking about is being masterminded by someone in our government, aren't you taking an awfully big risk in telling me?" Her brow was furrowed still trying to puzzle out what Lex's angle was.

Lex laughed harshly, still manipulating the controls for the other half of the cube. "Oh, Amanda... I can turn off all the collars and communication in Bell Reeve and have your prisoners in a riot before you realized what was going on. I'm in no danger at all from you."

"You're lying again." Waller said flatly.

"You think?" Lex idly tapped a few more controls, then snapped his fingers near the mouthpiece. The lights in Waller's office suddenly dimmed and died.

She bit down on a surprised exclamation. Lex could clearly see the fear and alarm in her face. She took a deep breath, intending to bellow for the guards when the lights suddenly came back on.

"You should be getting an e-mail with the information in a minute or so. Give it to your people, Waller. I'll look into the impostor in Europe." He added with a last teasing note. "I'll be in touch." He touched another control and closed the voice connection. The image on the slide he kept focused on Amanda still.

Lex smirked at the troubled expression on her face. "Poor Waller. She's quite good at playing the game, but not quite up to my level yet."

Mercy raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't realize you had control over Bell Reeve, Lex."

"I don't," he answered distractedly, turning his attention fully on the other half of the cube.

Lawton had finally swung himself out of the couch and had sauntered over to watch Lex's work. "So how the hell did you mess with her lights?"

"A tiny adjustment with my sliding tech." Lex replied with a slight grin. "I just temporarily displaced the light coming out of the florescent lights elsewhere. I can't quite teleport people with it yet, but photons are easy. For the moment, that's not important. Let's take a closer look at our fake, shall we?"

From beneath the van, a shadow moved.


	8. Chapter 8

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 8**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

_Author's Notes: I'd like to thank everyone who's read the story and stuck with it so far. I do greatly appreciate all of your kind words and encouragement and hope that you will continue to read. We've reached what I think may be roughly a halfway point in the story. I may continue all the way through as a single tale, or I may end up splitting it up into a sequel once this reaches a good point for a logical conclusion. All constructive comments and criticisms are welcome. Thank you once again._

Lex tapped in some more adjustments on one of his keyboards, allowing the image of his double in the slide to zoom in closer. A few more adjustments allowed him to run chemical and molecular analysis using the equivalent of a visual scan with the slide's microscopic capabilities. He clucked his tongue idly as the analysis scrolled past. The more obvious visual dissection of his duplicate was almost an afterthought. The images thrown up on the slide as the man downed his coffee came to him as something of a shock, although not quite as big as the shock from watching his double take his coffee.

"How do they expect him to fool anyone?" Lex mumbled morosely. I mean he's an obvious fraud, I'm surprised no one's realized by now."

Mercy who stood just a little behind and off to his side shrugged. "Most people don't pay attention to the little details."

"Little details? He ordered a kopi luwak, and then drowned it in sugar and cream. I always take it black!" Lex snapped irritably. "Everyone should know that!"

"He also left his spoon in the cup." Mercy noted brightly, "You always take yours out."

"Exactly," Lex nodded vigorously. "I'm glad someone is paying attention."

On the other half of the slide, with the sound off, the image of Amanda Waller was in the process of shouting into several phones. A few aides hovered and flitted in and out of the image dropping papers onto Waller's desk, taking papers away. The scene was pure controlled chaos. Lex smirked slightly at the sight. He'd seen Amanda operate in the past. The woman was hard and disciplined and if anyone would be able to dig up answers, it would be her. He was recording the proceedings, including the audio, for later analysis. For right now, he had enough information flooding in that he didn't need the additional distraction.

Deadshot, his guest and new employee, hadn't learned yet the value of keeping quiet when the boss was working. He was peeking through the blinds, past the bulletproof glass, to check out the street where Chemo was still twitching and burning internally. He called out over his shoulder. "Hey, Lex. Metropolis SCU's out there."

Luthor gave a grunt, which could've been taken for an acknowledgement.

Floyd looked like he was about to say something else, but he caught Mercy's eye. She frowned at the greasy little man and put a finger to her lips. He shrugged and closed his mouth with an audible snap. He turned his attention back to what was happening outside. The SCU vans were pulling into the area and a police cordon was being erected. He could spot a few of the locals filtering back, trying to get a glimpse at the burning behemoth. Above, TV news choppers were obviously trying to see more to feed the public's hunger for information.

Mercy, content that Deadshot would keep his silence, turned her full attention back to Lex. She noted that his concentration and irritation were no longer completely on the primary image he'd been analyzing. He was letting his eyes drift back and forth between several monitors. She recognized that state of mental idling that Lex went into when he was processing. She knew that he thought better when he was allowed to babble. Sometimes he did it to himself, but he really did his best when someone asked him questions. It forced him to consider things from another point of view. He was already beginning to mumble softly to himself, but she decided that it might speed matters along if she spoke up, "So... is it another Lex clone?"

"Another?" Floyd asked from his position, glancing away from the window. He decided not to look quite at Mercy, or at least not her eyes.

"Yes, Lawton." Lex responded, "I picked up some nasty cancers from overexposure to kryptonite. I had a clone made for the parts and had myself rebuilt." He smirked and flexed a well-sculpted bicep. "I took that as a good second chance. I had to take better care of myself aft

Deadshot snapped his fingers in recollection, "Oh yeah. That was how you went from being all tubby to your current look."

"I can't recommend it as a weight loss program." Lex replied wryly. "It's funny that we did mention my old clone. As it so happens, the people who made that last one seem to be involved in my latest double."

"How so?" Mercy asked. She was glad that the other man was making himself useful by steering Lex's thinking around. "Did they have enough spare bits of you left over to make a new Lex clone?"

"Well, at first I thought our friend in Prague was something familiar, but that doesn't seem to be the case." Lex tapped a few more keys, and a section of the slide displayed a floating representation of a DNA helix. "Human DNA but not a match with myself. So not a clone, not an alien. No meta-gene, so not a standard sort of shape shifter."

"So what's that leave?" Lawton asked.

Mercy replied before Lex could. "Surgical alteration. Plastic surgery." A smirk crossed Floyd's face as he flicked a greasy, meaningful leer across her torso. She frowned at him and raised an eyebrow. "And before you ask and I have to break your arms, they're real."

Lex nodded, ignoring the byplay. "Yes and no. Someone did surgery to this poor bastard, but it's a lot more invasive than just basic plastic surgery." A few more keys pulled up a strange representation of a skull that slowly rotated in the slide. The image looked... wrong. Strangely beveled cracks and fractures broke the skull apart into sections. There seemed to be black strings stitching the free floating plates together, but only very loosely. The image pulled back further, revealing a spine that had strange black spheres interspersed between several of the thoracic vertebrae. The image pulled back even further, revealing the arms and legs of the skeleton. There were floating breaks in the upper arms and shin bones.

Mercy recoiled slightly. She'd seen some ugly things in her time, but this looked... all very deliberate. Floyd hid his own reaction by glancing back out the window.

"Someone broke this man's skull apart like an egg. They peeled his skull apart and stitched it back in a way that it could be shifted by adjustments to his facial muscles. He could alter his facial structure enough to allow him to duplicate a wide variety of features. There are bladders in his spine and just under pectoral and abdominal muscles that allow him to adjust his height and apparent girth. Even to develop a bust. He's definitely male, but his genitals were altered to allow him to retract them entirely into his torso. There are ratcheting slides in the long bones in his shins and upper arms allowing him to make further height adjustments. It's all completely surgical. Absolutely no mutagens to trigger meta-human expression."

Mercy swallowed down her bile, taking note of the studied blankness in Lex's face. "Wouldn't all that hurt?"

Lex touched a few more buttons clothing the skeleton in muscle, then skin. "It would, except whoever did this burnt out this man's ability to feel pain. The nerves that would carry pain signals to his brain are completely destroyed. The skin on his face, chest and arms are grafts. It's cloned from his own DNA, but modified to have chromatophores like octopus skin. Color shifting. Camouflage and changing his skin color to match whoever he's duplicating. If you look closely, you can see the color of the skin on the legs looks quite different from the skin tone on his face. No fingerprints."

Floyd whistled thoughtfully. "Like a made to order infiltration specialist. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes though." He squinted out the window. "They've got a crane out there now. Looks like they're trying to load up Chemo on it."

Lex shook his head in awe and disgust. "The kicker though is the brain damage. Whoever did this chemically lobotomized our friend. Phobaline tetrachorate, adrenosate, xenosate xanthesine... a half dozen other psychoactive chemicals turned whatever brains he had left under that broken skull into Swiss cheese. Moldy Swiss cheese. I don't know who this man is, but there are enough clues in his body to confirm my suspicions about who made him and who did this to me."

"Like your clone. You mean Cadmus, don't you, Lex?" Mercy asked.

"Project Cadmus." Lex said with a nod. "The markers on his modified cloned skin grafts are Cadmus trademarks. There's a specific process that only they use. You don't entirely change the genetic sequence. You introduce chemicals into the environment when the new tissue is forming to induce changes in the development. Make cells coded to produce regular skin, produce this... mess."

"Let me guess," Mercy said thoughtfully, "They're rare chemicals that you could probably track to a manufacturer."

"Precisely." With a few more keystrokes he forwarded the information and a list of the chemicals in question via an e-mail to Ms. Teschmacher. If anyone could trace where those were being sent to, she'd be the one to manage it. She was always efficient that way. Just the way Lex liked. He shook his head to clear it and continued, "Those along with the combination of chemicals he's been exposed to in the brainwashing process are all related to the ones I've been tracking in the general populace. Ms. Teschmacher should be able to find them for us. Whoever put our friend out in Prague wasn't expecting us to be able to get hold of this information off of him quite so soon."

Lex clicked his tongue once more, thoughtfully as he zoomed the image in tighter on his duplicate's stomach. "There's a nasty little bomb in his abdomen that they were probably planning on detonating if I got too close. Burn him down to molecular ash. No clues left behind." He shook his head. "Toss the poor bastard aside once he stopped being useful."

Mercy caught the expression on his face and almost reached out a hand to place on his shoulder. If Lawton hadn't been there, she would have, but one had to look strong for the hired help. Lex got a frustrated look on his face and rubbed a hand on his bare scalp. "Just like I used to operate." He seethed.

"Hey, uh... boss?" Floyd said from the window. "We got company coming to your door."

He looked up, tapping into the closer circuit camera to display on one of his monitors. The red S shield that filled it gave him an answer as to who was coming to call.

Lex snapped furiously at Mercy. "Take Lawton downstairs with Doctor Psycho and the van. I'll deal with the boy scout."

She nodded and with swift efficiency picked up the bound psychic in one hand. With the other, she grabbed hold of Lawton by his collar, tossing them both into the white panel van's back. She produced her own key fob and allowed the vehicle elevator lower the van out of sight. As she did so, Lex rose, waving a hand at the controls and blanking out the slide display. He shoved his hands into his pockets, taking a deep breath as he did so, trying to contain the furious beating of his heart. The anger that surged through him and refused to abate. Time to put his new convictions to the test.

O-O-O-O

Lex swung the door open and forced a pleasant, cheery grin onto his face. The front door was angled in such a way that his unwelcome guest wouldn't be able to get a look at his equipment. The alien, who was floating a few inches above the stoop, lowered his hand. He was just about to knock. Lex did love throwing him off-balance.

"Well, well... to what do I owe this surprise, Superman?" Lex enjoyed the look of annoyed distaste that crawled across those corn-fed aww-shucks features. If nothing else, the Boy Scout was horrible at hiding his emotions. His apparent sincerity kept the sheep from thinking too badly of him and it made it easy for Lex to read him, at least now that he was really paying attention. Lex kept a hand on the door, ready to shut it at a moment's notice, but with the alien's speed it was a hollow gesture. The force-fields around the door made it completely unnecessary, but still, appearances had to be maintained.

"I was just in the neighborhood, Lex." Superman replied, flicking a glance over his shoulder to where Metropolis SCU was loading Chemo onto a trailer truck. "I see you've had a busy morning."

Lex shrugged elaborately, nonchalantly. "Oh, Chemo? Well, he was going to make a mess of the neighborhood. I intervened before anyone got hurt."

"You don't say." The alien said, doubt thick in his voice. He had his arms crossed over his chest, expression suspicious. Their long personal history made it unlikely that he would believe anything Lex said, but oddly enough, Lex was finding that more amusing than infuriating now. His anger was draining away slowly, but surely. The longer the Boy Scout floated there, smugly certain and self-righteous, the more Lex realized that it was pointless to hate him. Sure he had power at his command, but at the end of the day, the man was a puffed up fool in tights, wearing his underwear on the outside and a gaudy cape.

The silence stretched uncomfortably. Lex was lost in his own thoughts, but his amusement was transforming his smile. It became less forced, less a show for the alien's benefit and more a thing of genuine amusement. Lex understood at least. He was a joke. They both were. Transformed into a shadow play for the benefit of these unknown puppet masters. His rage still did not abate, his hatred of the manipulation that he'd been put through was unchanged, but now he could appreciate the joke.

Finally the Boy Scout coughed uncomfortably, breaking the deadlock and startling Lex from his thoughts. "Are you sure you had nothing to do with Chemo being free in the first place?"

Lex rolled his eyes. "Are you serious? This is what passes for superhero banter now? You glare at me for a bit, and then ask me insipid questions?" He snorted, "No, wait... this is always what you say, isn't it?" Lex shook his head. "I had nothing to do with Chemo being here, Superman."

"Watch yourself Lex." The alien shot back, glaring. His eyes flashed red. The old, standard threat. Lex found aside from his amusement, he was feeling something else that surprised him. Boredom. He was already bored with this conversation. This was the exact same pattern their conversations followed every single time.

"Or what? You'll watch me for myself?" Lex looked thoughtful for a moment, "Does that even make sense?" He was unable to keep the mirth from out of his voice. "This is why Metropolis is the only city on the Eastern seaboard with contractors that specialize in lining apartments with lead."

He frowned, and prepared to interject again. Something pithy. Something superheroey and vaguely threatening. Lex couldn't take it anymore and interrupted him before he could speak. "Tell me, are you happy being the world's most powerful baby sitter?"

"What are you--?"

"I'm serious. I really do want to know... when you were a kid, did you plan on making a... a... a career out of taking care of us poor helpless humans?"

"That's not what I'm doing and you know it, Lex." Again the flash of red. Indignant, annoyed. He disliked being needled, Lex knew that, but if he really wanted to move forward he had to break not only his own cycles, but he needed to break the alien out of his as well.

"Well what are you doing, then? I can understand helping people... honestly, I can. Your apparent altruism is a way for you to feel..." Lex shrugged elaborately once more, "Better about yourself. Make yourself feel less guilty for being better than we are, isn't that it?"

"I do not think I'm better than--"

Lex cut him off once more, "Really? When you condescend to fly forth from your hidden Fortress... when you come down from on-high to offer us the helpless little humans your mighty strength... why is it always when we've fallen in too far to pull ourselves out of it? Why don't you ever prevent things from getting too far? With your powers you could stop drought before it becomes famine. You could keep offer humanity so much more than playing glorified strongman for them, why don't you?"

"It's not that simp--"

"It is that simple." Lex gave an exasperated sigh, "It's not even that you're really wasting your powers... it's that you're not using them to your full potential. Stop dumbing yourself down for us. We can take it if you seem superior. I have to deal with this all the time; you learn to live with it. Pretending to be harmless doesn't make people see you as less of a threat. It just makes them wonder what you're hiding."

He replied stiffly, "Too many people would say that it's not my place."

"Really? You expect me to believe that given a chance to help, you'd rather sit on the sidelines?"

"That's not what I mean and you know it, Lex!"

"I just find it funny that the excuse you'd offer was that you think people wouldn't want you to help." Lex poked him in the chest. "Sometimes people who don't want help are the ones who need it most. If you see someone about to commit suicide you'd stop him, wouldn't you?"

"Yes." He replied cautiously.

"Even when they don't want you to stop them?"

"That's pretty much the point isn't it?"

The bald man gestured grandly from the other side of the door, "This planet is committing suicide. Mankind as a whole is on the verge of destroying itself. So why aren't you doing anything?" The last sentence Lex delivered in a low, flat monotone. An accusation. A slap in the face. A challenge.

The Boy Scout flinched and said slowly. "It's not that bad. Things are getting better--"

Lex snorted, "Because people are doing something about it! Because we are not just sitting on our hands pretending that leaving things where they are is a good thing! You could turn things around. The technology of your home world could benefit all of us. You could change the world!"

He shook his head. "Earth isn't ready."

"We aren't ready for nukes, but we have them!" Lex screamed into his face. He wasn't mad, but he was finding himself warming up to the topic. This was... fun. "We've got weapons that can destroy this planet and everyone on it a million times over and we are still here! Self-replicating crystalline technology that's smart enough to stop itself shouldn't be much more threatening than weaponized Ebola!"

The alien shook his head once more, "Humanity has to learn on its own--"

"I've heard this argument often enough," Lex scoffed. "Humanity knows about this stuff, dammit! It's only a matter of time before we figure it out, but I don't see any reason not to give it to us ahead of time. I mean it's not like people are going to get any wiser or smarter the longer we wait." He shook his head, "You know what? Stay right there." Lex slammed the door in his face and ran back inside towards one of the computers in close reach.

He opened the door once more to a completely baffled Superman. All it took was a LexOffice template and a few extra tweaks to produce the bond paper printout that he shoved into the startled alien's hand. "There! You've been here long enough!" Lex crowed at him.

The sheet was obviously some sort of generic certificate template that Lex had tweaked slightly before producing the printout. It declared the bearer: "Superman" to be a "fully fledged member of humanity". "What is this supposed to be?" He scowled at the, by now, manic bald man.

"This is your certificate. Welcome to humanity. Enough of this bull that you keep trying to pull by referring to us as 'you'. For all that you try to act like one of us; you're all too quick to point out that you're not one of us." Lex poked him hard in the chest once more. Startled, the alien floated backwards just a bit, not meaning to, but finding himself giving ground to Lex. "You live here. You've lived here long enough. You're a human by adoption. Now will you please at least try to make the planet better?"

"What's gotten into you Lex?" The alien frowned down at the man. Lex recognized that little squint the alien was aiming at him. It was X-ray vision time.

"Oh it's me, alright." He chuckled. "And I'm not on any drugs, unless you count being 'high on life'. I can do a little half-turn too if you want to check out the view from behind?" Lex fit action to his words and turned his back to the Boy Scout, even posing slightly as he did so. He bit back a laugh, "So what color underwear am I wearing today, Supes?"

The Boy Scout shook his head, unconsciously averting his eyes from the proffered Luthor posterior, "You're a sick man, Lex."

"Oh no, that's where you're wrong, my dear Superman. I'm in far better shape now than I've ever been, but for all your power, for all your much-vaunted senses, you can only see, you cannot understand. Or you choose not to. Or maybe that's just how they've programmed you to keep you tractable. Physically, I'm the same as I ever was, but the difference is knowledge. For all that you can see... you can't share in that knowledge." Lex shook his head, amusement on his features. "You really are just a funny little man. As much a wind-up toy as I used to be."

"What knowledge would that be, Lex? You're not acting like yourself, something's clearly bothering you--"

"Tell you what... perhaps this will make more sense, my fellow human." Lex said cheerily, "I'm going to invoke your programming. I say the right magic words and you will respond just the way you're supposed to."

"What?"

Lex flashed him a grin, and then began wiggling his fingers in what he hoped would be seen as a 'magical' way. "At the hotel Ambassador, in Prague, there is a man who has been surgically altered to resemble me. I had nothing at all to do with this unfortunate man's situation, but it came to my attention that the individuals who had him altered also implanted a bomb in his stomach. Accompanying him and no doubt liable to be caught in the blast radius are half-dozen secret service agents. Most of whom have families. One of them recently became a new father. The other one just got married three weeks ago. The bomb could go off at any moment. You're the only one who can get to them in time."

The alien only stared at him. Lex, deciding that he needed further prompting, pointed vaguely in an eastward direction. "If you don't believe me, just point your telescopic vision roughly that-a-way. You might even be able to see it all the way from here." Lex smirked.

"This discussion isn't over Lex!" The alien called back as he turned and shot off into the sky. Lex laughed, rich and long before slamming the door shut behind him.

Lex leaned back against the closed door, catching his breath as his laughter dwindled down. "That was surprisingly refreshing." He muttered to himself. The pleasant warmth of having verbally manhandled the Man of Steel left him feeling flushed and pleased with himself. His cell phone rang and he fished it out of his pants pocket.

The slide, still tuned to the extensive communications setup he'd slapped together less than hour earlier, divided the image it displayed even further. Sharing space on the display now, along with Waller and the Lex duplicate was the lovely and tousle-headed blonde form of Ms. Eve Teschmacher. Lex looked up at it in mild surprise.

The next generation in teleportation technology could also be used as one of the most invasive video phones ever marketed. He walked closer, enjoying the view as he noted to himself that Eve took a fairly relaxed view on proper office attire, considering she was working out of her home office. The silky robe looked to be too short to do more than mildly suggest modesty, rather than outright preserve it.

"Eve, lovely to hear from you I was just about to call—"

"Are you alright, Lex?" She asked frantically.

"Yes, of course I'm—"

"It's just you cut me off a bit abruptly earlier, then the next thing I know you're on the news saving the city—"

"I'm what?" Lex asked incredulously. "I only just saved a few blocks worth of waterfront, it's nothing major."

He watched in mild fascination as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger while she continued to talk to him. "Well, I might've given your old PR firm a call and asked them to give that footage a little extra spin."

"Did you now?"

"It's only been a couple of hours, but the Youtube video's already got over a million hits." He enjoyed the smile that bloomed on her face. "But that still doesn't excuse you from not calling, I've been worried."

"I'm fine. If anything had gone wrong, Mercy would've called—"

"That's not the same thing." She said frowning cutely. Completely unsuspecting that he was watching, he found himself fascinated by how open she'd become.

"Alright, I apologize."

"Fine. But just for that I'm giving myself another raise."

Lex choked back a laugh, "What?"

"Yes." She sniffed. "Oh, and I sent you back my analysis of those chemicals and the manufacturers you can get them from."

"Wait, the list I just sent you a few minutes ago?"

"Yes. I also cross-referenced it against shipping companies, manifests and delivery schedules. If you're looking for someone using everything you listed in the quantities you specified, the only place that fits the parameters is a STAR Labs building in the Mazursky Industrial park right outside of Metropolis proper. I sent the address back in my reply to the e-mail."

Lex smiled as he watched her buff her nails on the collar of her robe. An action which made it open just a tiny bit. "You're a wonder, Ms. Teschmacher." He said heartily.

"Well, there is a reason why you pay me the big bucks, sir." She replied primly.

"You're mostly paying yourself the big bucks, my dear."

"Details." She responded airily. "I'll get back to work with Lord Enterprises on the viral marketing campaign."

"What exactly are we marketing?"

"Right now, sir? You."

"But to what end?" He was genuinely curious as to her rationale.

She smiled. "Call it pre-emptive. You're on the verge of something big, I can tell. With you already on everyone's minds, their expectations will already front-loaded with awesome Lex-ness and they will be ready to accept whatever you want to give them."

He chuckled. "Thank you, Ms. Teschmacher."

"Yes, sir." She hung up, but the image lingered on the slide. From the door leading to the stairs, Mercy peeked out and cracked a wide smile.

"I swear, Lex. You're a complete pervert." She said, walking across the living room area towards Lex.

"I forgot it was set up to do that, honestly." Lex said in a voice of pure injured innocence.

She shook her head, "You know if you asked nicely, she'd be more than happy to show you all that without you having to use your magical peeping machine."

"I keep telling you it's not a peeping machine."

"Yet it's what you keep doing with it." She grinned. "Although, I was talking about flashing the Boy scout. So which underwear did you have on?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Did you want to check for yourself?"

She gave a dismissive snort. "We have guests. Behave yourself."

"How are our guests?" He asked.

"I've got the dwarf stashed in the van. Lawton found the garage fridge and is drowning his sorrows in some more of your beer." She replied. "Do you have a next step yet?"

"Eve found us a possible address. I'll need you to get on the phone and see if you can get hold of John Corben. Once I get a little corroboration from the Wall, I think we'll be just about ready to give these people a demonstration on why it's a bad idea to mess with Lex Luthor." His hand closed into a fist as he treated Mercy to cruel, cold smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 9**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex snapped awake from his sprawl on the couch. He'd dozed off waiting for Corben to arrive and he'd clearly just woken up in time. A glance at his wrist watch told him he'd manage to snatch an hour of sleep, which was possibly the longest stretch of time that he'd managed in the past few days.

At the door, being allowed in by Mercy, was John Corben, a man with a seemingly average face that topped a tall body with a muscular, heavy-set build. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a work shirt with messily folded sleeves.

Lex was operating on maybe three hours of sleep in all in the past 72 hours. He was not at his best, but he had to work fast. They had a limited window of time during which the enemy would be completely unaware of him. They would not imagine that he would be able to put together an effective assault force in under three hours.

Before he'd dozed off he'd managed to complete a few more preparations.

The crate that they'd be transporting Doctor Psycho in was ready. Lex had few illusions about trying to get the miniature misogynist to work for him willingly and in an effective manner, so Lex had to improvise. Lex had managed to harness the Joker's psychosis into something useful before, but frankly, it just wasn't worth the effort putting up with crazy people.

He considered his own irrationalities and chuckled at the irony.

The midget had actually saved him some time and trouble. It was easier improvising him into something useful rather than having to build something from scratch or pulling something from the discard pile. He glanced over at it, noting idly that the crate was now closed rather than open, which was how he'd left it. He shrugged. Mercy or Lawton must have done it.

Waller seemed as though she was tentatively convinced and had sent Lex a few documents that had given him some more useful background on his target. Truth be told, most of the information would have been available to him through the Freedom of Information act, but even expedited the request for the documents would have taken weeks. Waller had simply decided to cut through the bureaucratic overhead and had one of her tame geeks e-mail him the files.

He'd speed read through them just before he'd fallen asleep. His nap had given him enough time to absorb what the file had laid out for him.

Project Mindful, later renamed Project M was the group that had operated the chemical studies out of Bannermain Chemicals. Project M's main thrust appeared to be the development of newer types of soldiers. Enhancements to the existing troops. Advanced cybernetics for the time and bionic augmentation. The beginnings of bio-warfare and the earliest experiments in forcing meta-gene manifestation. Project M was responsible for the creation of nearly a dozen meta-human agents operating in during the war, including the first Robotman, Ms. America, the G.I. Robot and the Creature Commandos.

It was fascinating reading in and of itself, considering the massive leap forward in the technologies Project M introduced. They went from barely understanding how genetic inheritance worked to surgical procedures that allowed living snakes to be implanted into a woman's scalp. It was mad, heartless, and terrifying. The kind of attitude that would turn a corpse into a weapon. The kind of mind that would conceive of using psychoactive drugs to cripple generations worth of geniuses.

At the end of the war, project M was broken up into a dozen smaller agencies. Biological containment techniques and protocols developed during the war formed the core of what would eventually become the Center for Disease Control. The cybernetics and engineering divisions not only broke free, but ended up as a privately owned company, evolving into Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories. The biological division, with specialties in genetic engineering, chemical augmentations and cloning emerged as Project Cadmus.

Project Cadmus which controlled the lion's den that they were about to walk into.

Lex noticed that Lawton, who had obviously now realized that they were going into some potential danger had stopped raiding Lex's limited stash of beer and was now drinking a cup of coffee. The coffee machine was steaming and a full pot was ready. He could recognize Mercy's handiwork and thanked his lucky stars that the woman was as efficient as ever. Lex swung himself off the couch and stumbled to pour himself a cup.

He nodded to the new arrival. "John," Lex said in a friendly tone. "Good to see you again."

There was something oddly stiff about the man's movements. The facial expressions weren't quite right either. His face was too still, missing the twitches and flinches one would expect from most men. The voice was flat, noninflected, but possessed of a tinge of malice. "Luthor. What do you want?"

Lex laughed as he set his cup back down. "After all this time, that's all you have to say to me?"

"Almost every other time you call me up, you try to rip my heart out. Forgive me if I seem a little distant." Corben responded.

Floyd pulled a face, then sidled closer to Mercy. He asked in an elaborately loud whisper, "Did they used to date?"

Mercy eyed Lawton with as though he'd grown a second head. "I'd think Lex would have a bit more taste."

"Uh... so what was that about his heart?" The greasy man asked, waggling his eyebrows elaborately and inclining his head to the two men who were making low voiced small talk, or at least some sort of negotiation. Lawton wasn't really paying attention. "Cause that sounded seriously gay to me." He noted the expression on Mercy's face and held up his hands defensively. "Not that there's anything wrong with that! Some of my best friends are... well, okay, they're not gay-gay, but they're kinda--"

Mercy rolled her eyes and saved Floyd the opportunity to push his foot down his throat any deeper. "That's Metallo you, idiot. The guy with the kryptonite heart? Heard of him?"

Floyd frowned for a moment before he recognized the name. He snapped his fingers, "Oh! Sorry, I thought he looked more... I dunno... roboty. Oh! So when he said Lex ripped his--"

"He was being literal." Mercy nodded. "Now shut up, I think Lex just talked the guy into working for him. Again." She smirked.

Lex meanwhile had led Corben over to his work bench. The taller man sat down at one of the stools and bent down, allowing Lex to peel back some of the skin at the back of his neck. "You're sure about this?"

"Look, these people specialize in cloning technology and brain transplants. If anyone has the know how and the technical skills to get you back into a real, living body it's them." Lex spoke off-offhandedly.

"So how come you never mentioned them before?" The flat voice had suspicion in it now.

"Last time you were too useful the way you are. Now, I don't care if you get moved into a human body" He replied, before stabbing a USB cable from his computers into the open port at the base of Metallo's skull. "What I'm uploading into your internal hard drive is a suite of programs for breaking in to their internal networks. I needed something with a bit more memory and speed than what I had on hand and I didn't feel like building a new portable computer from scratch."

"I keep telling you, Lex... you could've bought something from that electronics store the next block over." Mercy called over, showing that she had been eavesdropping the whole time, like a good bodyguard.

Lex called back to her over his shoulder. "Like I'm going to trust something off the shelf for something this important."

Corben spoke up, ignoring Mercy and addressing Lex, "So you're using me to break into their systems?"

"Precisely. I'll mostly need to get into their network to bypass security and make sure all the doors are open and the alarms are off. But since we'll be in there anyway, you can go ahead and pull whatever information you can on their cloning tech and brain transplantation procedures. Your metal head will also ensure that the data stays safe. Other than that, you and Floyd will mostly be making a lot of flash and noise to distract people from my approach."

"I can do noisy, no problem, Lex." Flattened pride colored the synthesized voice. He mimed cracking his knuckles, but instead of the expected noises, there was only the whine of servos and the sound of metal being slowly tortured.

Lex peeled away a bit more at the edge of the hair line where the false skin was joined only loosely. "I also have a couple of upgrades to your internal antennas. This way you can get on their wireless network and I'll be able to trigger and run the programs I have in you from my phone. Once I'm done, you'll be able to pick up WiFi, Bluetooth, 802.11b--"

"Can I get ESPN?" Corben asked in his flat voice. There was amusement in it now. Or at least the simulation of amusement.

Lex stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "You know what? Sure, why not. Do you want the movie channels too?"

"Seriously?"

"Even the porn channels. It's just a couple minutes more to adjust it."

Lawton sidled over and nodded to Corben. "Hey, can you hook me up with that too, boss?"

Lex gave him a flat smile. "I could, but you're not equipped for it."

"Trust me, man." Corben said to Lawton. "It ain't worth it."

Lex continued to apply various tools and fiddly metal bits to the back of the man's head. He spoke in a distracted tone. "He's right, you know."

"How bad could it be?" Lawton asked in a drawl.

"I have not had sexual relations with a woman in the manner of man in more years than I care to count." Corben said flatly. Well, in an even more flat tone than normal.

Floyd stared at him. "Damn, okay. ESPN can't possibly be worth that."

"It's why I'm hoping this whole thing pans out." Corben replied.

"So you're Metallo, right?" Lawton said, looking the man in the eye. This close the falseness of the man's skin was obvious. Some kind of latex rubber. The complete lack of extraneous movement was creeping him out even further. Even the faked, overly even breathing. Floyd still stuck his hand out to the sitting... well, the guy was still a man. Complete lack of sexual relations aside. It didn't hurt to at least try to be polite to the guy who'd be watching his back.

"Yes. You look sort of familiar." Corben replied, taking the man's hand and shaking it in a painfully firm grip.

"Floyd Lawton. I also go by Deadshot."

Corben was about to nod acknowledgment, when Lex smacked him hard on the back of the head. "Hold still you dolt. Last thing you want is me driving one of these things into your cerebellum and frying what few working brain cells you still have." He snapped.

"Sorry."

Lex sneered. "You will be sorry if you move your head again. Hold still!"

Corben asked, with flat hopefulness in his tone, "Can I get picture in picture?"

"You'll get a lobotomy if you don't let me work."

Floyd flashed a smile once more then sidled away, back to his previous station at the kitchen counter near Mercy. "I know you told me, Doll... but they still looks kinda gay to me." He muttered to her.

Mercy cooed at him, "Aww... are you jealous, Floyd?"

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "You remind me way too much of my ex-wife."

O-O-O-O

Two men manhandled a wooden crate out of the back of a white van with a LeXpress Shipping Logo painted onto the side. The guard standing in front of the warehouse doors watched them. It had been a slow day. A delivery was some measure of interest against the backdrop of a dreary and overly warm day.

The guard, a young fair-haired man with an athletic build and a rugged outdoorsy tan pulled at his sweat-sticky collar and put away the textbook he'd been reading. Night classes at the community college for CSI would pay off when the time came. He walked over leisurely towards the two men wheeling the dolly forward. He had a name tag that identified him as Waylon.

The men bringing the crate forward were arguing in a sort of good-natured way. Both were wearing LeXpress uniforms which consisted of work boots, gray slacks, a yellow and gray work shirts and oversized gray ball caps. The guy in front, a wiry, rawboned man in his thirties with black hair and a painfully appropriate pencil-thin mustache. Waylon supposed the guy probably shaved that thing to a millimeter's precision. Mustache guy was also wearing a pair of big old-fashioned sunglasses.

The other man was taller, and built like a linebacker. He was obviously doing the bulk of the work in moving the crate. What could be seen of his hair was short and grayish brown. The guard had no idea why, but there was something weird about the guy. It wasn't anything Waylon could quite put his finger on, but there was just something about the man that was giving him the creeps something awful.

Mustache guy waved Waylon over, holding out a clipboard. It was one of those little details that you noticed. It was a clip board. Real paper on a wooden board, with a metal clip, rather than those ruggedized PDA things the regular LeXpress delivery guy used. Funny that. Waylon put a hand on the butt of the gun he had holstered at his hip. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

Mustache guy noted the movement and his eyebrows rose up above the top edge of his cheaters. "Hey, we're just droppin' off a delivery, buddy." He held his hands up, showing the other was empty. The bigger guy rolled his eyes, but again, there was something... off... about the movement. The guard couldn't figure out why these two looked so wrong, but they just did.

"Where's the regular delivery guy?" Waylon asked.

"You expect us to know?" Mustache guy asked with a laugh. "Hey, we just get paid to deliver this crap, we don't know where anyone else is. You don't want this thing, you just sign," he waggled the clip board held above his head, "And we tell dispatch you refused delivery. You get to explain to... uh..." He glanced down at the shipping label taped to the outside of the wooden crate, "Director Paul Westfield why he didn't get his crap, alright?"

"Director--?" Waylon started to ask, but the man with the mustache interrupted him.

"Look, just sign the damn thing and we'll take it back with us, you don't have to shoot, alright?" Mustache gave him a big friendly grin. A harmless, friendly grin and Waylon relaxed just a little.

He held a hand out to the two men, making a huge production of moving it well away from his pistol. The big guy still hadn't moved much, but mustache guy looked like he had calmed down some, lowering his hands and his clipboard.

"Look, I'm sorry about that." Waylon said to the men apologetically. "I'll sign for it, you can leave it here. This place makes you kind of paranoid, you know? All these secretive brainy types running around complaining about keeping things secured."

The mustache man nodded and moved to pass the clipboard over to the guard. "Yeah, yeah... I totally get you, man. You just gotta be careful. I understand." The man fumbled and the clipboard fell to the floor between the men with a clatter. Waylon gave a friendly smile and bent down to pick it up when he realized that his belt felt much lighter. At the base of his neck, he felt a cold circle of steel touch his skin lightly.

The man with the mustache spoke. His voice had dropped from friendly to icy cold. "You know how your instincts were telling you it was a bad idea to get too close?"

Waylon gulped and nodded nervously. He tried to turn, but only got the vaguest glimpse of the man's face from below. The sunglasses were tucked into his breast pocket. Those eyes were dead and cold. That mustache didn't look quite so ridiculous anymore.

"The ones that told you to put your hand to your gun?" The man continued quietly, "Those instincts? You should've listened."

The larger man made a sound that was like a sigh, then asked. "Which way to the freight elevators?"

"That way..." the young guard replied, pointing to the closed double doors at far wall of the warehouse. "It's at the end of a hallway past past those doors." Finding his courage he continued, "You'll never get through. The hall's armed with a grid of laser alarms. The only way to shut it off is either from the main guard room or by entering a code at the keypad next to the elevator. There's no way you can get to it before every guard we've got swarms you guys."

The larger man did something truly horrible. He smiled. Not like a normal person would smile. There wasn't any of the movements you'd expect from normal human muscles. It was simply the revelation of teeth. No wonder primates treated the baring of teeth as a threat. This was threat in its distilled form. The lips pulled back into a terrible grimace revealing huge, perfectly white, perfectly even teeth.

The moustachioed man sneered. "You let us worry about that." He nodded to the larger man who tapped the crate with a negligent finger, making a loud knocking noise. Waylon could almost swear that he saw the larger man's eyes flash red for a moment, then green. Just a tiny pinpoint of light behind the irises. It reminded him far too much of the Terminator movies.

As if the young guard had not already been having a sufficiently horrible day, something even worse happened to him.

He thought that the gun to the back of his head was the worst thing that could happen. The larger man's horrific smile a moment later managed to top that. What happened in the next moment surpassed those both by leaps and bounds.

He didn't even notice it at first. He could feel his heart speeding up.

Slowly.

Steadily.

His heart was racing. His breath was coming in short, strangled gasps as though he were trapped. Far worse than simply being held by these two men, he felt as though he were being compressed, unable to move. Bound and frozen to the same spot.

His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest now.

He pulled in air in shallow gasps, unable to fill his lungs. He needed to break free. Nothing was holding him, even the mustache man had moved away as though he'd stopped being a threat. Waylon turned... or at least he tried to. All that happened was that he'd fallen over, every muscle locked into place. Paralyzed by some hopeless, nameless dread.

These men weren't it. They were simply men. There was something nearby. Stalking him, pressing close... slithering it's way around his limbs. His limp, unresisting, unresponsive limbs. Something was touching them, gliding featherlight touches of something leathery and dry. Scraping across his raw nerves.

He tried to pull in more air desperately. Unable to take in more than a tiny sip at a time, a small and distant part of himself that still remembered his first aid training realized that he was beginning to hyperventilate. This tine part of his mind tried desperately to let him know that there wasn't anything to be afraid of, but whatever was happening had him in it's grasp. His heart was going to explode. He knew it. He just knew it. He could feel cold bands tightening around his chest, squeezing him as those whisper-light touches all over by unseen and terrifying hands left him on a ragged edge.

From the wooden box came a scream. Long, loud, drawn out and torn from a throat scraped raw. After a minute, Waylon realized the box wasn't the only thing screaming. He was screaming right along with it. He screamed back, unable to stop himself, emptying his tortured lungs of air he would need in a few minutes. His heart continued to pound and his vision was beginning to gray out around the edges and little dancing motes of light were invading his field of vision.

He saw it rise up from the floor. An amorphous, living shadow taking form before him. It's figure had feminine curves, generous and deliciously womanly, but in dead, flat black. It had no face... merely a blank expanse that looked as though where the mouth and eyes should have been, were sewn shut. It had massive demonic wings that swept out from it's back but closed around him, enfolding him in an embrace that threatened to crush the very life from him if he resisted... it loomed, drawing him close, the sewn shut mouth was beginning to unravel, it opened revealing a terrible maw of teeth and horrific pink tentacles swirling out to draw him into it. A tiny morsel for it to snack on and be amused by for a moment before he would be spat out and ignored once more, but the whole while the terror, the screams, the oxygen deprivation continued on and on and on...

O-O-O-O

Floyd watched dispassionately as the guard first experienced what looked like an anxiety attack, then screamed, then fainted. If Luthor was right, everyone in the facility was going through what this guy was. The only reason he and Metallo weren't incapacitated was cause Lexy had rigged their hats with something to block telepathic attack. The something in question looked suspiciously like tin foil, but if it was good enough to block CIA mind controlling satellites, it should be enough to protect them from a misogynistic telepathic midget.

Even with that protection though, he was feeling it. Faint tuggings at his mind and his thoughts. Something scary flicking away at the edges of his senses. Something dark, faceless, feminine and squirmy. It disturbed him that the guard started tenting his trousers even as he was in a dead faint. A quick glance around the warehouse confirmed that he and Metallo were the only ones still awake and the double doors to the hall that led to the rest of the place was wide open. The security in this place stank something awful.

Lex hopped out of the van's driver seat, straightening out the frighteningly expensive suit he had on. It was a purple so deep that it looked black under most lights. His shirt beneath was white and his tie was a sort of lavender-violet dealie that by all rights should've looked completely girly, but the ex-prez managed to pull it off somehow. Floyd figured that when people had the money to burn, they could afford to look as ridiculous as they wanted and still look presentable.

"Any trouble?" He asked as he strode up to them.

"Not a one, boss." Floyd replied, shucking the LeXpress uniform off to reveal his uniform underneath. He drew the back of his arm carefully across his brow, making certain not to dislodge the hat or his sunglasses. His costume was a special material. It breathed, while still providing adequate insulation. In other words, it kept you cool when the weather was hot. It wasn't really meant to be worn under a heavy jumpsuit. He noticed that Metallo didn't even bother taking the uniform off. Then again he probably wasn't feeling too hot. It's not like he could even sweat if he wanted to. On the other hand, it wasn't like the guy actually had a costume, exactly. The closest thing he had to a distinctive look only happened after people tore through the latex-rubber skin he had and he started looking like the Terminator on steroids.

Floyd glanced over at Lex again in his suit, a faint sheen of sweat gleaming off the man's bare scalp and he asked, "Just curious. If me and Metallo need to wear the hats to protect ourselves... how come you ain't got one on?"

"Technically, I don't need to wear mine. Lex already had the defense circuitry installed in my head." Metallo noted.

"I've got my own psychic defenses." Lex said casually as he moved to the double doors. "Although Doctor Psycho's choice of mental terrors is rather... unusual."

"Well the guy's got all sortsa issues with women, doesn't he? I can't see this being so weird." Floyd replied.

Metallo made a sound that might have been a laugh, or it might not. "Sorta? What kind of sicko makes as his fear thing a big, demonic, woman?"

Lawton slapped his knee and laughed. "He's projecting, Waller!"

Lex allowed a smile to flick across his face at the byplay. "I suppose it makes sense. Large, scary sexy black demon woman who'll eat you up and spit you out--"

"Sexy, Lex?" Floyd smirked, glancing over his shoulder at Lex. "Do not tell me you have a thing for Waller."

"I do not have a thing for Waller," Lex responded stiffly.

Floyd held his finger up and said brightly, "She did say you stuck your tongue into her mouth when you were still prez."

Metallo's expression, flat as it was seemed to take on the aspect of shock. "You Frenched Waller? Seriously? You really are an evil mastermind." Despite the flat tone, there was a sort of grudging admiration to his voice.

"What are you two, twelve?" Lex ground out. "We're in the middle of an infiltration, can we please focus?"

Floyd laughed, "Sorry, sorry... who you do is your thing, boss. It's just I never figured you for a chubby chaser."

Metallo gave Floyd a light slap on the shoulder, "You're okay in my book, man." He then gave the horrible braying metallic noise that passed for his laughter.

Lex glared at both of them as they reached the double doors, Floyd continued to smirk and snigger, while Metallo had managed to smooth his face back into easy impassivity.

"Seriously, tho, boss." Floyd said once they'd passed the threshold and stood at the beginning of a stark, white corridor. "I'd still feel a little better if'n you were to stay in the van while me and Metallo did this."

The larger man nodded. "Mercy threatened to turn Floyd into a woman if anything happened to you. We're still not sure how you talked her into staying."

"I'm very persuasive," Lex said, flashing a grin. "Mercy, for all her zealous over-protectiveness, is a reasonable woman and can be dealt with rationally."

Floyd snorted slightly then turned to Metallo. "What she threaten you with?" He asked.

"Something about a screwdriver lobotomy." Metallo replied blandly. "In any case, we'd both feel safer for our own sakes and yours if you stayed out of this bit."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, gentlemen," Lex replied with a smirk, "You're here to buy me time and make sure this entire place goes down."

"Aw, come on, Lex," Floyd interjected, "You know what we mean. I mean it'd be one thing if you were wearing that battlesuit dealie you used to have."

"I remember that thing," Metallo said slowly. "You could go toe to toe with Supes in that thing."

"That 'thing' as you so eloquently put it was a merger of Kryptonian, Apokalypsian and B13 technologies. It was as safe and predictable to drive as an Pinto. The best part was the fact that the telepathic control circuitry on it was acting up and liable to fry my brains every time I put it on."

Lex tapped his temple with a finger, "I need to keep my greatest weapon keen, gentlemen. Besides," he gestured down at his sartorial splendor, "I'm already wearing the power suit I need." He glanced up at the other end of the eighty foot long corridor where the keypad was. Across the corridor at various heights and angles were a multitude of moving security beams that were mostly only visible when dust passed through them. Lex gave a small, approving nod and passed a sheet of paper from his pocket bearing several numbers over to Floyd. "Here's the code Waller gave."

"You sure this'll work?" Floyd asked.

Lex shrugged. "If it doesn't you can always use real bullets. Just be a good man and key it in would you?"

Floyd shrugged and fished a small air gun from the pouch at his lower back. He eyed the combination once more then took aim. He shot each button of the combination in sequence, avoiding the web of sensors each time. He ending it by shooting the "Open" button.

"Easy-peasy." Floyd smirked, twirling the faux gun around one finger before dropping it back into its pouch.

Lex nodded, "Impressive. I'll admit. When I heard about that little security measure, I was originally going to hire the Catwoman to slink her way past the beams and let us through. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be available until next Thursday."

Floyd chuckled. "A slinky Catwoman caper with her dancing around security beams? I'd've paid you to take me with just to watch that. I've seen her move in that little catsuit of hers."

They walked down the now empty corridor. Reaching the other end, Lex pried the panel loose using a small pocket knife then began pulling and splicing wires into Metallo's wrist.

Metallo lamented flatly. "It almost makes me feel that the video recording and playback capabilities I have are wasted."

Lex patted him on the shoulder and said not unkindly, completing the connections between Metallo and the security panel. "Well, if all goes well, you should be able to get a human body for yourself soon enough."

Floyd nodded cheerfully, "Yeah. So don't worry too much, big guy."

Lex began fiddling with a PDA and Floyd could see the lights in the back of Metallo's eyes were flickering red and green as whatever it was Lex was doing triggered various things.

"First thing I want is a steak. Something huge and rare and greasy. Then I'm going to wash it down with a six pack of Bud." Metallo continued idly. "Then I'm going to find some blonde twins and see if I can convince them to have a little--"

"I'm in." Lex said, interrupting whatever fantasy Metallo was about to launch into. "I've opened all the doors between here and Westfield's office. You two are going to be busy making a diversion. I've left the downloader running in your head, Corben. You'll be pulling data off their network and broadcasting it back to my computers for analysis. Floyd, you know where the charges need to go." He smiled at the two, then glanced into a blank expanse of wall, whereupon he nodded and waved. The assault on Project Cadmus had begun.


	10. Chapter 10

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 10**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex stood in the elevator, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot. The facility wasn't quite that deep, but for some reason their elevator was exceptionally slow.

Now that he was alone, he no longer had to project confidence for the benefit of his hirelings. Lawton and Corben were professionals. They'd take care of their parts. That was simple enough. It was his own part that was beginning to assail him with doubt.

The plan was simple. He'd been under time constraint and frankly, the other two supervillains he'd taken along, while reasonably reliable, were not exactly mental giants. The software now running in Corben's head would override all the closed circuit cameras in the facility to show a loop of an empty hallway. Simultaneously, it would also be sending out alarms to pull any personnel not already incapacitated by Doctor Psycho's fear toxin induced freakout away from the route that Lex would be taking. Between those, the routes should remain clear for Lex himself and for Lawton to plant the multitude of compact bombs Lex had provided him at various load-bearing supports.

Inside of five minutes, the fear toxin feed into the midget would run out, giving the rest of the base's personnel an opportunity to leave, assuming they could register the alarms. Lex didn't need any more unnecessary blood on his hands, but he wasn't going to let any Cadmus Project facility escape unscathed.

Lex dipped a hand into his pocket and began tapping out a couple more commands into his cellphone. The electronics warfare software he had in Metallo had gotten into the Cadmus network deep enough to relay commands to their remote facilities. At Lex's command, every single one of those locations began registering catastrophic containment breaches, requiring the complete evacuation of all personnel and in the cases where it was possible, triggering self-destruct protocols.

He calculated the he would destroy three quarters of all Cadmus facilities within the next hour or so, but what he did in this place was the key. The answers were in the heart of this facility. The spider sat at the center of his web in this place. No matter what happened to those others, this was the one that mattered.

Lex slipped his hand into his coat and felt the cool, comfortingly rough grip of the pistol he wore in an underarm holster. He knew his way around regular guns well enough, but he did not often carry one, finding them crude and imprecise weapons. He didn't have much of a choice this time. As he'd told himself repeatedly, he'd been in a hurry. There were other weapons at his disposal, but nothing that would be as inconspicious nor as effective. Or at least, as effective as this .45 was with the special magazine clip he'd created. That the bullets needed an exceptionally large calibre for the weapon's other functions was somewhat worrisome, but the slide was just barely able to move items of that size through it.

He hoped he would not need it, but things were moving very quickly. He was glad and terrified at once. The chance to confront the mastermind that had warped his life. The chance to ask the questions he wanted answered. His hand tightened on his phone, but the sudden ringing startled him out of his morbid thoughts.

Lex wiped his hand across his bare scalp and held the phone up to his ear. He was underground, inside an elevator and outside of his phone plan's coverage area. He frowned slightly. Perhaps there were limits to what he should apply his technology to, he mused.

"Hello?" Lex asked mildly.

Mercy's voice snarled out of the phone, "Lex, you complete bastard! What did you put in my coffee?"

"Just a mild sedative to keep you out until we'd managed to get over here." Lex replied with a small, pleased smile.

"Why did you leave me behind?" She ground out, her voice silken and dangerous.

"It's going to be pretty dangerous here, Mercy--" Lex started to say, but she interrupted.

"That's why you need me there. I can see you on your peeping doohickey, by the way."

"It targetted my cellphone when you called. I had to leave you behind, Mercy." His voice was soft.

"Why?"

"If I don't make it--"

She snapped at him. "Shut up. I told those two to keep an eye on you!"

"I sent them to do the job I needed them to do." He replied smoothly. "Just like I have a job to do. Just like you have a job to do."

"Lex, my job is to protect you. You aren't letting me do my job." Her frustration was obvious to him even over the phone.

"Your job, Mercy, is to do what I tell you to." Lex snapped. "What I'm telling you to do is to make sure that even if I don't make it, these people stay down."

"What are you saying, Lex?"

"You carry out my will. You make sure my technology gets spread. You make sure they never do this to anyone every again. Make sure the human race gets what it deserves. You're my backup plan in case I don't make it."

"Why wouldn't you think you'd make it?" She asked, almost pleading now.

"Most of the people I've faced were..." his mouth twisted in distaste. "Good men. People who fancied themselves heroes. They had codes of conduct that they followed. They didn't kill if they could avoid it. These men I'm facing now are different. They're ruthless. More ruthless than I am. Cold and brutally calculating. I wouldn't doubt that they would kill me if they could. I don't know if I'll make it out. But I need to face them, do you understand?"

"No! I don't!"

"I need to look them in the eyes as I ask my questions. I want my face to be the last thing they see." His voice had turned harsh once more. "I don't want you with me for that, Mercy. I need you to live."

She was silent for so long that Lex almost thought she'd disconnected the call. Her voice was soft and pained. "Damn you, Lex. Why won't you let me protect you?"

He looked up, estimating roughly where Mercy would be standing and where his image would be in the point of view of the slide. He hoped he met her eyes. He wished he could see her expression as he did that. "Because this once, I want to protect you." With that, he hung up the phone and the elevator doors slid open. He knew the flaw in his bashed together programming from this morning but left the slide aimed at his phone even after the call ended. He just hoped she wouldn't be too upset by whatever was to come.

The elevator opened to an empty hallway. Lex walked down it, following the map he had on his phone. He'd plotted the layout from a 3D diagram the slide had rendered of the place. He knew that Director Paul Westfield was in his office, or at least, he had been when Lex had last checked. He wished, and not for the first time since this morning that the slide equipment were not quite so bulky. He had a few ideas for making it more portable, or at least making it remotely accessible, but again, time was the great limitng factor. He was pressed for it. He was in a rush.

He still hadn't cracked the size barrier on what it could transport. Nothing larger than a cubic inch of material at a time. Even a series of massively parallel slides would result in whatever the target was coming out on the other end looking like it had been put through a collander.

Fortunately, even that could be put to good use.

He turned a corner and neared a pair of sealed doors. These doors were the primary access to Westfield's office suite. If he hadn't already departed through the emergency tunnels, then this was the place Lex would be able to find him.

There were yellow and black caution warnings along the top and bottom of the door and it was slightly ajar. The bit of reprogramming that his software in Corben's head had done made certain of that. There was a keypad for access next to it, but that was unimportant compared to the two men in fatigues standing on either side of the door.

The fact that they were standing was a big clue for Lex. It wasn't unusual that there would be those with a resistance to what Doctor Psycho was broadcasting. Even through his own mental shields, Lex could still feel the weakened image of desperately grasping, shadowed feminine terror seeking to knock him out. The doors swung open and another half dozen men poured out, rifles aimed at Luthor. Lex grinned coldly. Either Cadmus had a disproportionately large number of psychically resistant security men, who all just happened to be in this specific corridor where no one should have been, or his suspicions about the puppet master and his minions were correct.

They gave no prompting. No warning, they simply cut loose and began shooting.

Lex ducked back with a wince. A lucky shot had creased his brow, another shot through the cuff of one pant leg, completely missing him. The shot to his head was lucky to have hit at all. Luckier for him that it hadn't taken his head off. The skin was cut and bleeding freely down the side of his face. Lex didn't even feel any pain from the it. Adrenaline, he supposed.

He cursed himself for his stupidity. With one hand he tore open the lowest button on his coat and slapped the large, flat button on his belt buckle. The air around him took on a distorted shimmer. The battery life on his force field was not quite what it could be, but that was no excuse for such carelessness. He could hear the shots ring hollowly outside the field. He stepped forward once more, this time, doing his best to ignore the shots. It was difficult not to flinch from the roar and thunder of the rifles blasting away at him. Kill shots, every one. The men were shooting to kill. It made what he was to do next easier.

He stood before them allowing their shots to be absorbed uselessly by his forcefield. With deliberate contempt, he pulled his own weapon out. The pistol, despite it's size and weight in his hand seemed ludicrously inadequate in the face of their chattering rifles.

The wall behind Lex was pockmarked and pitted by gunshots. He raised his hands, holding the pistol in both hands, as easily and deliberately as though he were at a shooting range. Seeing the gun in his hands and the uselessness of their own gunfire, the men began to pull back behind the door, intent on using the door as cover.

The pistol's muzzle poked out of his forcefield by just a tiny fraction. The barrel was unblocked. A necessary feature to allow one to shoot out of the field. Anything else was an inviation to disaster. He'd seen the results of accidentally shooting from inside the forcefield. Perpetual ricochets until the bullet caught the generator and shut down the field. In the process the hapless test subject in the field was reduced to hamburger.

Chunky hamburger.

It was with that thought in mind that Lex pulled the trigger.

His first shot took one of the security men on his hip. The man dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. That caught the attention of a second man who turned to help him. Lex put one bullet through his chest and a second through his stomach.

Unheeding of the bullets whining around him and bouncing off his field, he walked forward, no longer bothering to aim once his first few bullets had found their targets. The roar of his pistol was terrifyingly loud in the enclosed space of his field. Lex did not flinch. He held his gun in a single hand, firing shot after shot. Peppering the door and the security men with bullets. Once on the move, he missed far more often than he hit, but they were fleeing from him, ducking, seeking cover. His field let him advance with neither fear nor hesitation.

Shots meant to force him to duck were just so much wasted lead. He put bullets in four more of the men, not bothering to check if the wounds were fatal or not. Center mass shots. Simple ones. Most were blunted by the basic body armor the men wore, but the hesitation from taking a hit was enough to give Lex a chance for a more incapacitating shot.

The least injured survivors had taken cover around another corner. He knew he'd gotten one in the shoulder and the other had taken a shot in the meaty part of his thigh.

Lex could see the panic in their eyes every time they tried to get a clear shot at him. He guessed this was why the boyscout enjoyed striding into gunfire. The feeling of awe and terror in others when they realized they couldn't do anything to you.

He knew they were trying to wait him out now. They could keep shooting at him, but Lex was savoring their confusion over a simple fact. Lex had shot several dozen rounds out of a clip that was sized to hold fourteen. He called out to the two men. "If you're waiting for me to run out of bullets, it won't happen. My magazine is modified to create bullets out of thin air. I will always have enough bullets for you. My forcefield is powered by my body heat. If you surrender to me now and take me to Westfield, you may be able to walk... or at least limp... out of here alive."

He gave them a few seconds to consider things, only shooting the occassional bullet into the support columns to keep the men's minds focused on what he could do. He was lying about the gun's magazine, of course. Lex had found that while it was theoretically possible to create a nanoassembler factory small enough to fit into a pistol magazine, it would take upwards of twenty minutes for it to produce a single bullet. Slightly less in highly poluted areas, but it essenatially made any sort of unlimited ammo magazine built around those principles horrifically slow. Lex had gone with the much simpler method of having a small slide portal at the bottom of the magazine feeding from a supply of bullets from his armory. While he didn't exactly have an unlimited amount of ammo, he had more than enough readied to start a small war.

More than enough to handle what was essentially a scaled up and glorified home invasion.

The two men obviously didn't want to give up. They dashed out from behind their cover, emptying their clips into Lex's field. He sighed and shot both men in the chest several times. Luthor walked past them as they collapsed, bleeding onto the ground. He hadn't gotten quite so close to the others. These two were still breathing. Harsh, ragged and pained, but still breathing. Lex didn't expect they would be for much longer, one way or another.

He pulled his pocket square up, dabbing ineffectually at the cut over his right eyebrow. It stung when he touched it, and the blood was just starting to get into his eyes. The fact that it was going to leave a stain on his collar annoyed him more than the men who'd tried to stop him. He came upon an unoccupied desk at the end of the corridor. An office door with a small sign saying, "Paul Westfield, Director" told him that he'd reached his destination.

He wondered idly if he should've felt any remorse about those men he'd just gunned down for doing their jobs. Of course, it was possible they weren't quite men and they were faking, if his suspicions truly did pay off, but he couldn't be certain then and there. They had been in his way, there was no doubt of that. Was he really trying to make himself better or not?

He heard a whimper from the desk and realized that it's occupant, a pretty, curly-haired brunette was in a fetal position, cowering under the table. She appeared to have wet herself. Doctor Psycho truly had outdone himself.

He put a hand on the door knob. Perhaps they could be his last few. Once this was over, it would be over. He didn't think he'd need to be quite so... direct... in the days to come. He might even enjoy being humanity's great benefactor. The paradox in that he could be that while still being a ruthless, murderous bastard puzzled him. Then again, perhaps caring about humanity as a whole did not necessarily mean you had to care about humans as individuals.

That didn't sound right, though. Logically, it did not follow.

He shook his head. Focus, Lex, he admonished himself, You aren't done yet.

He opened the door to find Director Paul Westfield sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair and grinning a terrible, awful grin. It reminded Lex of Metallo's own attempts at facial expression. A wooden thing that had more in common with a carved mask than a living face.

Lex grinned back, twirling his pistol around one finger. He asked casually. "I'm afraid I didn't have an appointment, but do you think you could slip me in, Paul?"

Behind the desk, the lean, brown-haired man with graying temples rose. "I suppose I could at that, Lex."

"You look good for a dead man, Paul." Lex remarked, closing his fist on his gun's grip to stop it from spinning and aiming it at the man.

"Was that a threat?" Westfield asked casually. Too casually. It was obvious that the telepathic attack was not affecting him at all. In fact, Luthor was beginning to suspect that these individuals weren't even noticing the attack at all. Perhaps they were puzzled by the sudden collapse of everyone else in their facility. Lex filed that piece of data away and continued to aim his weapon.

"Not at all. I'd just heard Dabney Donovan had killed you a few years ago."

"From your spy, Packard no doubt." Westfield sneered cheerfully. "Not at all. The reports of my demise were greatly exagerated. After all I control the greatest single collection of biological and cloning sciences that has ever been assembled. They brought me back."

"Convenient." Lex nodded.

"You certainly thought so when our techniques salvaged you from that sack of cancer cells you used to call your body."

"Touche." Lex gestured idly with his gun. There was a lightness to the atmosphere. As though the men were simply having small talk about business and not a deadly contest of wills. "I imagine you know why I'm here."

Westfield shook his head and shrugged elaborately, "To be perfectly honest, Lex. No clue."

Lex tapped the pistol barrel against his temple. "It has to do with this. It has to do with the year my parents died. The year Superman came to Metropolis." He pointed the gun at Westfield once more, his aim was rock steady. He strode towards the man's desk, coming closer on every word. "It has to do with the phobaline tetrahydrochorate traces in my head and the chain of evidence that I've followed back to Cadmus. Does any of this refresh your memory?" Lex's voice dropped as he spoke, the tone gone cold and hard. He pressed the muzzle of the pistol into the center of Westfield's forehead. "It's about crippling entire generations with mediocrity, you bastard. Explain."

Westfield stared into Lex's eyes. His cold, green eyes. Westfield shook his head elaborately. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Too bad." Lex said quietly. He shifted the aim of his gun downward suddenly, no longer aiming at Westfield's forehead, and fired into the man's forearm. Westfield screamed, pulling backwards hard in his chair, blood flowed freely from the wound, staining his suit and covering his hand in blood as he desperately tried to staunch the bleeding. Lex leaped up on the table and kicked the man hard across the jaw, snapping his head back far enough to force the chair to overbalance, spilling Project Cadmus' director onto the floor, blood streaming from his arm and a trickle of blood from his lips.

Lex stood on the man's desk, towering over him. The light behind him throwing his face into shadow and putting a white halo around his shadowed features. "You have more spots for me to shoot, Westfield. Tell me what this is about, or I will take my time exploring every single one of them."

"You're insane, Luthor!" Westfield whimpered. "I've got men, security and cameras--"

"Your men are dead. I killed them on my way here. Your cameras are under my control. This entire facility is set to self-destruct at my word. There will be no body for them to find, you have my word on that. There will be no investigation. No one will know what happened to you. My name will be clean, I will be praised to the high heavens. Your conspiracy will die in flames as I disassemble it." Lex cocked the gun dramatically. He spoke slowly. Deliberately. Menacingly. "There is no carrot. There is only stick. Answer me or die in agony."

The man pleaded desperately. "I don't know anythin--" Lex cut him off once more, this time with a shot that just barely missed Westfield's other arm.

Luthor shifted slightly, waving his free hand near his head as a triumphant smile lit up his face. "You know what? I just had a thought. The PTHC contaminant you've left in our heads? A simple catalytic microscrubber attuned to the chemical lockout should break the chemical contaminants down and produce an accelerated state of neural cross connection." He laughed sharply. "Ten seconds with an aerosol spray and I can not only undo all the damage you people have cause, I'll make everyone on the planet brillant! They'll have to cancel all the reality TV shows!"

Westfield's face darkened at that.

Lex raised an eyebrow, still keeping his gun trained at Westfield. "What? Are you going to miss American Idol?"

"That's not possible." Westfield said flatly.

"Isn't it?" Lex asked with a cheery grin. "All this time and effort you've put into trying to keep mankind down and all it takes is one man with a gun and a bit of imagination to overturn... what is it? Fifty years of work? Sixty?" He shook his head. "I notice you forgot to pretend tha you don't know anything about this."

Westfield didn't answer, at least not in words. His legs, which were still under the desk, kicked up suddenly. The heavy wood splintered under the blow, throwing Lex down from his perch. He landed hard. The forcefield absorbed the impact, saving him from a fractured arm, but it was still like being run over by a car made of pillows. The bad landing knocked all the air out of him. He lost hold of his gun, but fortunately it was still within the field.

He reached for it, trying to keep his pistol from slip-sliding against the inside of the forcefield. He was far too distracted by that act to realize that Westfield had gotten back to his feet. The Cadmus director stamped down hard on Lex's wrist. The field held, but the floor beneath, the cement floor, cracked sharply. His arm was immobilized. Embedded in the material of the floor and pinned there by Westfield's foot.

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Well... it's about time." He looked up, staring at Westfield who no longer seemed to be just another bloated beaurocrat. Lex watched idly as Westfield flexed the arm that had been shot. He opened and closed his hand, as though testing it. The bleeding had stopped and Lex knew then that his guesses were correct. The bullet was still inside that arm. In a normal human it would likely have lodged up against bone and would be agony to move. He doubted that was what Westfield was feeling.

The arrival of the rest of the security men, all still on their own feet, confirmed it for him. They no longer needed to pretend at humanity. The blank expressionless faces said it all. Lex guessed that Westfield must've signaled them somehow and told them the jig was up.

They came at him, the ones who'd taken lethal shots: One walked in missing a good portion of his head. Another had a gaping hole where his heart should have been. Another was limping slightly after having sustained a half dozen wounds through his chest and stomach. He did notice that most of their injuries no longer bled. Even better was that there were no exit wounds to those injuries. They had his bullets in them. Sometimes paranoia paid off.

They surrounded him, grabbing and manhandling him back to his feet as best as they could while being unable to touch him. They kept him pressed in, unable to move, unable to reach his weapon. Inside his field Lex was certain he had them.

Westfield smiled that wooden smile, all teeth and menace. "The problem with a forcefield is that unless you have it anchored, or you have some sort of super strength, you can still be overpowered."

Lex struggled against the grasping hands slipping against his field. He couldn't get leverage nor purchase. This close the bloody, gaping wounds were revealed for what they were. He could see the metallic sheen within. "So I see," he replied.

Westfield smacked Lex harshly on the side of the head. The forcefield took the blow still, but it was still humiliating. "You didn't really think this would work, did you? Coming here with just those two idiots? With barely any weapons? What are you trying to prove?"

"That humans can beat you." Lex replied with a grin.

"Congratulations, Luthor." He replied, "You've proved nothing. Only that you're just as stupidly self-destructive as always. Just like the rest of your kind. You could have been useful. Your intellect is remarkable, but you've proven yourself more trouble than you are worth."

"I tend to do that," Lex said with a smirk. "You made me this way, after all. You have only yourselves to blame."

"I wouldn't be so pleased, Luthor." Westfield replied coldly. "We are going to hollow you out and wear you like a cheap suit. Your name will be a synonym for failure and villany in our hands. Your magnificent mind will be broken down and your neural architecture will be stripped down and retasked to serve as a glorified hard drive. What little will be left of your personality will be nothing more than a tiny voice screaming endlessly for release."

Lex nodded absently, "That's a good one. Very dramatic. I applaud."

"You may mock, but you are not the first to discover our existence. We have been around for a very long time. We defend this planet's status quo. Your species is a weak willed one, prone to excesses that will destroy it."

Lex, to put it mildly was shocked. It was trying to justify itself to him. He suspected that they'd been around humans long enough to learn arrogance, but hadn't realized they'd picked up the bad habit of gloating. Something Lex himself had been all too familiar with. He decided to play along. It wanted dialogue. Hiding for so long as they had, they wanted an audience.

"We aren't children to be coddled. Your interference is neither wanted nor desired." Lex continued to pretend indifference, but this was what he was here for, his two hirelings had served as his distraction, now he was theirs. A glance down at his phone showed him that Lawton and Corben were still hard at work. He almost missed the next part of Westfield's rant. Fortunately he was recording now.

"Your race has been shaped entirely by us. What you are today was through our auspices. What you have achieved we have generously given you." Westfield's voice began to take on animation once more. "When Atlantis lay on the verge of taking to the stars. We were new to our task and overeager. We destroyed it entirely. We showed greater restraint when Rome reached the peak of its Empire building. We led the barbarians that sacked it. When the kingdom of Prester John stood poised to unite the African continent under a single rule and from there the world? We destroyed it so thoroughly it exists only in legend. We are why the Han conquered the Chinese. We are why the Crusades happened. We were in command of the Allied forces that toppled the Third Reich. Your entire race's history of trying to rise above it's station has ever been tempered by our hand striking you down."

Lex flashed a grin, he could not show them his anger. It was too crucial. He had to let them keep believing that he mocked them. That none of what they said affected him, but he could already feel a cold finger of terror touch his heart. He thought they'd only been operating in this century. The possibility had existed that they'd operated earlier, but he hadn't anything to base that supposition on. He kept his voice light and teasing. "Missed out on the whole Industrial revolution then?"

"We will admit to some carelessness in allowing that to flourish as long as it did. Your tiny mayfly lives mean that you can spread and change so quickly. Our task is to allow you some measure of growth, but to keep you contained to this world. You cannot be allowed to spread."

"You're quick to take credit, but you're already contradicting yourself and you've barely started gloating. The mark of an amateur." Lex chided playfully.

"I apologize, Luthor. I may be somewhat out of practice, after all the last time anyone got as close to this truth as you have was in the fourteenth Century, when a physician learned of our existence and swore to stop us. He is still around, but is little more than a toothless relic who is as apt to do our work for us as oppose us. You know him better as Ra's Al Ghul."

Lex sneered. "This is supposed to impress me? That he's been around this long and you haven't managed to get rid of him speaks immensely towards your competence."

"But there was no need, Luthor. We've neutralized him. He has never suspected that we'd tainted his Lazarus pits. With every dip he grows more and more feverishly insane. He believed that we sought to have mankind under our heel. Do you realize that his plan to destroy the majority of humanity was a ploy to deny us slaves? His ecological posturing is just a way for him to justify it to himself. Seven hundred years of conflict and the best he can hope to accomplish is to take away from us something we do not even want." Westfield leaned in. "We do not need to kill him, Luthor. He is irrelevant now. Just as you shall be."

Luthor shrugged as best he could while still hemmed in by the men. "You've seriously overplayed your hand, Westfield. If that is your name. This sort of preening really should be reserved for when you've won."

"But we have won. Your little rebeliousness is at an end. The status quo is upheld. Mankind shall remain as it is." Westfield's tone, though cool, had grown snide.

"Is that so?" Lex asked, pausing significantly to ensure that his captors heard his next words clearly. He looked Westfield straight in the eye. "Obviously, nothing escapes you."

There was a moment of shocked silence before Westfield frowned slightly, "So you did know?"

Lex smirked, "I suspected. But once I got the files from Waller... well, the clues are obvious once you think about it. The sudden surge in technology in a dozen fields during World War II as you try madly to impose order on what had become the biggest screwup in human history? That was a big one."

Lex's smirk had turned sharklike as he continued. He did so enjoy explaining things to lesser minds. "Most prominently influenced were the biological sciences and robotics. Anachronistic, advanced technology. The two obvious explanations were either aliens of some sort, or time travellers. The actions you took during the war didn't make sense for time travellers. The biological advances all seemed backwards engineered to human physiologies. As though you had access to higher levels of scientific knowledge, but only the vaguest idea on how it applied to a human biology. So you had to have it reduced to first principles and work your way back up from there."

"The allowed you to deduce alien, but for the rest?" Westfield asked, intrigued despite himself.

"The G.I. Robot and Robotman." Lex grinned. "Both products of Project M. Both major advances in robotics and cybernetics that served as the basis for all humanoid robotic designs that followed: the second Robotman, Cyborg, Amazo, Red Tornado... Metallo. Imagine my surprise when I studied all those basic designs and found that the origin of the technology was quite obvious once one knew what markers to look for. Isn't that right, Manhunter?"

Westfield gave Lex another cold smile. His features froze as the human seeming faded from his face. Human skin giving way to a smooth plasticine blue face, with features just ever so slightly off. The now bare scalp and neck were a bright, metallic red. "If you knew this ahead of time, Luthor... why did you--"

"Stage an assault with just two imbiciles and a pistol?" Lex said, now grinning madly. "One imbicile whose robotic body is just close enough to yours to confound the sensors you'd normally use? The other a perfectly normal human who can blend in seemlessly with your other humans at this location?"

Westfield could only stare as Lex continued. "I bet you're having all sorts of trouble finding them right now, aren't you? Lawton should be just about done planting the charges. Corben meanwhile has been datamining your entire database for my personal use. I'm going to have all sorts of fun converting that technology for public consumption."

"You're talking like you're in charge of this situation." Westfield said.

"I am." Lex replied smugly. "The reason why I only took a pistol was because you would have detected energy weapons if you bothered to scan me."

"It's true. You have no other weapons. The only other advanced mechanisms we found on you besides the forcefield was your cell phone and some other sort of short range radio transmitter."

"Not exactly a radio transmitter. It's an RFID interrogator that does spatial plotting before it can transmit an inverse field harmonic localized on the plotted coordinates." Lex replied glibly. "Technically it's a weapon, but I still have my greatest weapon of all." Lex tapped his temple after a brief struggle to free his hand. The motion reoppened the scabbed up wound above his eyebrow which started it bleeding again. "Would you like to see me use it?" He asked slowly.

The Manhunters as one, realized that he was about to strike back somehow. They had let him keep his force field up as a gesture of contempt, Lex knew. Arrogance always had a way of biting one in the ass. Lex knew that from bitter experience. He also knew it was very difficult to shut up a person when they were inside such a force field. "On Bang. Locus Lex. Radius two meters." He called out.

He was certain the Manhunter's probing sensors would notice the radio signal pulsed out from what they incorrectly identified as a radio. The signal queried his immediate vicinity for the RFID tags embedded in the bullets that were in turn, now embedded in the Manhunters. The large caliber rounds were only just barely large enough to hold the passive transmission tags. His equipment noted the positions of every bullet within the defined radius and waited almost eagerly for Lex to give the word.

Before Lex could draw in a second breath for the activation command over a dozen blue fingered Manhunter fists struck his defenses with unearthly coordination. Each blow was at a precise point, with just the right amount of force to tax his physical force field to its limits. It collapsed with an electronic whimper.

His unheld gun clattered to the ground, no longer contained by his field.

Lex couldn't even spare a breath to curse as a blow struck him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. A second caught him across the jaw rocking his head back and sending his ears ringing. He blacked out for a moment, but not long, as he could feel other blows strike him. One was behind him holding him up. Out of his field. Out of breath. Out of time.

He tried to say the command, but he'd been reduced to inarticulate screaming by the blows. He felt a rib give way. Then two. Finally, through the blows, he sobbed it more than said it, but it was clear enough for the voice activated equipment to register the word. "Bang."

The Manhunters surrounding him began falling apart. Massive gaping holes opened around their bodies where the bullets had been lodged. Packed in tight as they were, the spherical voids overlapped between bodies, such that a single sphere took bites out of up to three or more of them. Lex had dropped to his knees, surrounded by metallic dust and still twitching isolated Manhunter body parts.

He grinned around his pain. Blood was coming out of the corner of his mouth opposite the wound on his brow and the bruises on his face were beginning to purple. His suit was a total loss now and not even the most assiduous dry cleaning would ever make it acceptable again.

The Manhunter that had played the role of Westfield didn't hesitate. It charged forward intending to finish Lex off. One human. One broken human could not possibly stand against one of them. No man escapes the Manhunters.

Lex took one tortured lungful of air after another. He could barely open one eye, the one that he could see out of noted Westfield rushing for him. He groped in the dust around him and just as the ersatz human would have struck at him, he whispered, "Bang."

The hand that Westfield would have hit him with dissolved into a pile of drifting dust, leaving the machine with a stump that ended in its upper arm.

Before it could move its other arm into position, before it could even truly register its surprise, Lex's hand rose up out of the dust, with a death grip on his pistol. There was no time to aim, no time at all for subtlety, but he would need the Manhunter's head. In a curious bit of anthropomorphism, their primary memory modules were kept where the human brains would be. If it had been anything but a machine Lex would have hesitated. Perhaps fatally. But he could salvage its head. Its memories. He would get all his answers.

Lex rose to one knee and shot three times. The first veered wide, his blurry vision and a single, shaky hand making it difficult to aim. The shock of pain from the recoil travelled up to his shoulder and lingered. He grappled with the gun, bringing his other hand up to hold it steady. The second shot struck true, just below where the navel would be on a human. Just a little above the crotch. The third shot took the Manhunter at its chest, high, right and almost to the shoulder.

It staggered, taking a step back at the roar and the flash of his weapon, from the impact of those massive slugs burying themselves into its metallic body. Its eyes widened in surprise as it reached out for Lex, seeking to choke him, reaching out to keep him from talking.

Lex spoke with crisp finality and much satisfaction, through his pain. "Bang."

The spheres of negated matter enveloped its lower waist and most of its neck and shoulder. Its arm and both legs fell away, only loosely connected by the now scattering dust. There was a puff of smoke and the stench of ozone on top of everything else. That was probably the disintegrator giving up the ghost. It had done its work admirably.

Luthor dropped the gun into his pants pocket, letting it slip free of his nerveless fingers. He half-crawled, half-staggered to Westfield's almost disconnected head. It had lost a good portion of its lower jaw on the left side and a thin sliver of metal still connected it to rest of the body. Lex stamped down hard on the connection, before tearing the unevenly cut head away. He clutched it to his chest tightly. Or as tightly as he could with his broken ribs.

He wasn't certain how, but he found himself leaning against one wall, almost out of the office. The shaking and the sound of a distant explosion had snapped him back awake. He knew there was no way he would be able to make it out on his own. He fished around in his pockets for his phone, only to find smashed bits of electronics. "Well, that's just lovely," he slurred. It was either the swelling of his jaw or the possible concussion that was doing it to him.

Outside the office the alarms were reaching a swelling crescendo of… well… alarm. The sound pierced his ears and his already aching head. He muttered around his pained jaw, "I'm about ready to go into shock now. Anytime now."

He could hear distant explosions and realized belatedly that enough time had passed and Lawton was already detonating. He felt the entire facility shake and a rumbling roar rattled his already badly abused body. "Walk it off… come on… you've gone ten rounds with a guy who can lift aircraft carriers. This is nothing…" He muttered encouragingly to himself.

He stumbled around the corner where the elevators and the emergency stairs were and found to his horror that the entire corridor was already closed off by rubble. He stared stupidly at the rubble choked hallway. The micro-bombs he'd given Lawton were primed to detonate in sequence and if he'd followed maps Lex had given him, the entire place would be coming down on his head very, very soon.

He smiled weakly. "Careless. Very careless. Passing out messed up your time table, so where's your exit strategy, Lex?" He leaned his back heavily against the wall and allowed himself to slide down it. He really was going to die down here. His cell phone was modern art. His force field was shorted out and the disintegrator had given its all. The gun and the magazine both still worked, but there was no way he could fit into the tiny slide portal aperture. He could try shooting the rubble, but without the disintegration functions it would be a useless gesture.

Sitting, with his back to the wall, he was hairsbreadth away from simply allowing himself to go unconscious. He was going to die anyway; he may as well do it comfortably in his sleep, right? His eyes were half shut and the dusty air beginning to smell clearer and sweeter to his muddled senses when a black shadow flitted into his field of view.

He caught a whiff of oiled leather and jasmine as the shadow closed in on him. He grunted wincing as even that slight movement caused his broken ribs to grind against each other. "Psycho must still be transmitting." Lex smiled up blearily at the apparition. The angel of death had come to take him? It was definitely feminine, though faceless. Where eyes and other features should have been was stitchery on the blank, black face.

If this was how Doctor Psycho saw Waller, then frankly, the little man needed serious psychiatric help. Lex had to admit though… the feminine curves were absolutely stunning. Or at least the silhouette was. His eyes were bleary enough, but he could still distinguish at least that much… whatever it was it had something golden in outline across it's chest… something winged and vaguely familiar.

It leaned in close and whispered, "I'm here for you."

Lex smiled back, breathing calmly. The pain seemed to leave his body at her words, or perhaps he was finally going into shock. "Good," he murmured.

O-O-O-O

Mercy was on the phone and absolutely furious. The last she'd seen of Lex were those… things punching their way through his force field. His phone must have gotten destroyed at that point because the image on the slide had wavered and faded. She had Corben on the line and the slide showed her that he was currently in the van, driving away from where Lex was. Dimly, she could see Lawton behind him. The back of the van was open and he'd tied himself down with bungee cord and was shooting at someone behind them.

"What do you think you're doing?" She roared at him.

"Making our get away." Corben said calmly. Half his human face was gone revealing the metallic endoskeleton beneath as well as a single the green glowing eye. He had a phone in his head, she remembered which explained why he didn't need to hold anything up to his head and why his lips didn't move while he talked to her.

"Why are you leaving without Lex?!"

"We haven't had a chance to find him, okay? Their security guys were tougher than expected… then there were these cloned cyborg dinosaur thing—"

"Stop making excuses and go back to get him!"

"No can do, lady." He twisted the wheel sharply to the right and Mercy realized belatedly that he'd been driving on the wrong side of the road this whole time, at least based on what she could see from the windows. Behind him, Lawton continued to shoot at the Cadmus security types that were giving chase. They were mounted on what looked like cyborg horses. He was alternating yelling defiantly at them and cussing colorfully and continuously.

"Why not?" It was practically a sob. She wished she could run down there herself, but there was no way she could make it in time.

The image showed Lawton flinch suddenly and grab at the doors to close them. From the vague audio, Mercy could hear a rumble then a deep, bass explosion. The interior of the van began to tilt crazily, rolling over and over. The image finally settled to a stop with Metallo upside down in his seat and an unconscious Floyd dangling from his bungee ties.

There was a long silence before Corben finally spoke again. "Because the damn bombs just leveled the place."

**END**


	11. Chapter 11

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 11**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars. _

_A/N: I apologize for how long it took to get this chapter up, but life has been very busy. We're not quite done with our tale just yet, although be warned that this is a Lex-free chapter. You've been warned._

The warehouse was dark. There were a few pieces of electronics that were still running that cast a pallid light upon things here and there, but for the most part darkness was the prevalent theme.

It was the way he preferred it.

Since it was a large open plan area, a single light was visible from pretty much anywhere in the place. The plans he'd gotten his hands on indicated that there would be a closed room on the mezzanine. From his research he knew that was where Mercy stayed.

Of the owner of the residence, Lex Luthor himself, there was no sign.

He preferred that as well.

Say what you will about Luthor, but while he was just another normal guy without any superpowers, so was Batman. He didn't relish the idea of having to deal with Luthor, but on the other hand, this was where the trail led. Perhaps interrogating Lex was the only way to go.

He looked around from his shadowed perch on one of the support beams near the ceiling. From his vantage there was no obvious clue. He noted a stairwell near one wall which he suspected led to the basement where the rest of the cars were. The vehicle elevator near the center of the room provided another entrance, but he was certain there would be no way to use that without waking up the inhabitant.

The alarms surrounding the place had been sophisticated. Almost as difficult to disarm as the ones around Oracle's watchtower, but he'd still managed to ghost through them without setting anything off.

He secured one of his jump-lines to the beam he was standing on and jumped off, trusting to the d-cel cord to slow his descent. By the time his feet touched the floor, his downward speed had been reduced to practically zero. He unclipped the cord from it's hard-mount on his belt before it had a chance to snap him back up. It would still be available to him later when he needed a quick exit, but for now it wasn't necessary.

Clean. An hour of careful examination of the place had turned up nothing to indicate that she'd ever been here. He'd switched visuals on his mask lenses several times, confirming nothing in infrared or low-light. Luminol had turned up no traces... except for some possibly disgusting ones on the couch that he preferred not to think about. It wasn't even as though the place had been cleaned. At least not recently. He noted something that looked like the bastard child of a Roomba and a spider wandering around on one wall and realized that that was probably providing the extent of the housekeeping. He switched the lenses off, allowing his eyes to adjust to the low light once more.

This whole trip was a bust. He was going to have to start check her place once more and see if he'd missed anything.

He felt more than heard the change. Someone was about to come out of the mezzanine room. He calmly, but quickly, walked back to the center of the room and took hold of the loose end of D-cel cord. He hooked the loose end back onto the retractor in his hand and was smoothly pulled up and away before the door even finished opening.

In the dim light he could make out a feminine form step out. Her bare legs were slender and pale. She was wearing an oversized man's shirt, but her head was still entirely in shadow. He guessed it was Mercy, but she didn't move quite right. He moved towards her, balancing easily on the overhanging beams until he was able to position himself behind her. She was obviously trying to head downstairs to the kitchenette. Possibly for a glass of water.

He slid down behind her, realizing just a bit too late that this was most definitely not Mercy. Not only was she too short and too slender, she was also far too blonde. With a mass of curly, dirty gold hair that hid her features. Unfortunately, realizing this did not stop him from touching down behind her with a faint swish of his cape.

She started, turned... yup, he thought to himself. That was most definitely not Mercy. Mercy's first reaction from what he'd heard would've been a right hook, then followed up by a backwards thrust-kick. This woman, who looked like she hadn't been sleeping well... screamed. Loud, long and scared.

Well, he couldn't really blame her, he was somewhat startling.

What he hadn't counted on was the appearance of Mercy at the door behind him. She had a sheet strategically draped over her form. On one hand she wore a set of knuckle dusters that crackled with blue sparks. In her other hand was an aluminum baseball bat that he was certain she kept under her pillow. There was that right hook he'd been expecting. He danced back out of the way of the blow, letting his cape disguise exactly where his body was. Her follow-up kick was likewise avoided, but he slapped her leg as she kicked out, slipping his own leg out to tap her planted leg. This disrupted her balance enough for him to surge forward, knocking her entirely off her feet with a palm snapped at her chin. Her grip on the bat loosened and it rolled away from the fight. He didn't want to get into this scuffle, but she didn't seem inclined to talk just yet.

The other woman, continued screaming, but now she'd picked up the dropped bat and was rushing him. Instinct and training took over. He jinked to one side, thrusting out a stiff fingered hand to strike a nerve cluster in her wrist, forcing her to drop the bat. His cape swirled around him as he turned the blow into a grip, then he moved and gently, or at least as gently as possible, twisting her arm up behind her back. He brought an arm around her throat and whispered harshly into her ear, "Quiet." She was taller than he was by a few inches, so that action had her bending down.

He raised his voice and rasped at Mercy who was coming back to her feet and looked like she was ready for another round. "Try it and you'll fry her, and I'll still knock you down."

Mercy snarled, "You're Robin." She held up the still crackling knuckledusters. "Let Eve go, and I might not cripple you too badly."

The woman in his arms had stopped screaming and seemed to have calmed down considerably. She spoke suddenly. "Wait, Mercy!" She turned her head, trying to face the much younger man, her hair tickling his nose as she moved. "Do you know what happened to Lex?"

"What're you-?" He blurted out, puzzled. He caught himself before he said more, but whatever aura of intimidation he might've been able to manifest was severely hampered by the fact that first of all, he was shorter and slighter than both women. Worse, now that the lights were on, they had a clear view of those facts.

The blonde struggled against him. Since Mercy looked disinclined to continue trying to beat up on him, he let the woman go with a slight shove, pushing her into Mercy's arms. Mercy dropped the sparking weapon from her hand and held onto the woman. She started to fuss, trying to make certain that she was alright, but the woman shrugged her off. "Where is Lex?"

"I don't know." He replied, straightening up to his full height. "Where's Batgirl?"

"What're you talking about?" Mercy continued to hold the woman, Eve. "Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone." He said.

The blonde asked sharply, "But you're not looking for Lex?"

"I didn't even realize he was missing." He replied. "He hosted SNL last night. That was live."

"That was a Lex impersonator." She said, distantly. "He's been working for us since they took the bomb out of him."

Mercy snapped at Eve. "Don't tell him that!"

He frowned under his mask. "How long has Lex been missing?"

"None of your business." Mercy said, pulling Eve closer to her and away from him.

Eve slapped Mercy's shoulder. "I can't stand it anymore. We need to have someone look for him. We've had no leads. There was no body. I'm not going to accept that he's dead. You told me he got out of almost the exact same situation just a couple of months ago. If anyone could survive that, it'll be Lex." She

Robin could see that Mercy's anger was a pose. Well, not much of one, but she looked more fragile than he'd realized. Neither of the women looked like they'd had any sleep. The body language. The way they carried themselves spoke of closeness. Possibly a relationship. More than that though. Stress. The indicators were all over the place. They were both on the ragged edge. Perhaps comforting one another through... something? Lex disappeared. He wondered what that meant. He wondered if it tied in with his own investigation. He was certain it did.

Robin flicked his eyes towards the still open bedroom door and noted that the room only had a single queen sized bed with very rumpled sheets. The blush at the implication of what he might have inadvertently wandered into was beyond his control.

Mercy frowned at his blush, then realized what he was blushing at and almost laughed out loud. She subtly adjusted her bed sheet to better effect on her vastly feminine frame. The boy scout types always blushed. The boy... and boy he was, she thought. If he were over sixteen, she'd eat her chauffeur hat... seemed a little uncomfortable suddenly.

Eve didn't even seem to notice that. "It's been a week," she said wearily. The adrenaline high was wearing off. She sagged against Mercy. "He went to Cadmus."

"The facility just out of Metropolis." He spoke. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," the blonde replied. She nudged Mercy, "Tell him. He's a superhero..." she finally seemed to notice exactly what the young man looked like. "Even if he looks like he kind of shrunk in the wash."

Robin winced slightly and Mercy was unable to keep a weak smile from flitting across her face. "Lex found a conspiracy. One that was catching smart people when they were young and crippling them."

He frowned. "That sounds paranoid."

"I'd've said so too, except he had proof." She gestured vaguely down at the computer equipment below. "He's got tons of data. Waller believed him."

"Amanda Waller." He said flatly. His voice still doubtful.

"Yes." Mercy snarled.

"Why would it have mattered to hi-" his eyes grew wide behind his mask as he realized what that meant. "It was done to him."

She nodded. "He figured it out and he figured out that the people who were doing it were running Cadmus."

"I heard something about several Cadmus facilities being shut down around a month ago."

"He managed to shut down almost all of them." Mercy replied with a trace of pride in her voice. "We mopped up the ones that survived."

"But he's been missing since then." Eve finished softly.

He said coolly, "Show me the data he showed Waller. I'll look into it."

Mercy continued to look doubtful, but Eve nodded. "You'll get it."

"So who did you say you were looking for?" Mercy asked.

"Batgirl." The young man replied.

Eve ducked away, moving quickly down to the floor where she worked the computers with practiced ease. Mercy looked thoughtful. "Not the redheaded one, right?"

"No. She retired a while back."

Mercy shook her head. "Well, if you mean the one in the fetish leather, no. We never saw her"

"Her notes said she was keeping Lex under surveillance." He said distantly.

"Well, if she was doing it properly, we really wouldn't've seen her, huh?" Mercy sneered. "So why was she watching us?"

"Lex was already acting odd for several weeks prior to his disappearance." He said slowly. "She was... curious, I think. Lex already knew that far back," He said once he'd realized. "Lex knew about this conspiracy during that time. That's why he started acting odd. Leaving the public eye, putting the LexCorp tech database on open source, it's tied to this conspiracy, isn't it?"

Mercy nodded reluctantly.

Eve came back up breathless. She'd taken the stairs two at a time. She held a flash drive between thumb and forefinger. "This is the data. The same stuff he sent to Waller, at least that's what his records said." She turned, eyes swimming in tears, towards the young man in the black cloak. "Find Lex for us."

"I'll..." He found himself staring at the lovely young woman's hopeful expression and Mercy's face with it's angrier, though no less hopeful expression. "I'll do my best." He felt her hand brush his arm for a moment before he took a step back, twitching his cloak to cover himself once more. It amazed him how much devotion Lex had managed to create in these women. In anyone. Given his track record, Robin was amazed anyone was even still willing to work for him. Instead, he asked, "So the last time you'd seen him was right before Cadmus was shut down?"

Eve turned to Mercy as though to confirm that fact and he took the opportunity to pull a trick his mentor had mastered years ago. In that split second of inattention, he retracted his d-cel line once more, making it as though he'd vanished into thin air. He was already up and out of the unsecured window he'd come in through before the women even fully registered that he'd left.

This information gave him another direction to take his investigation. Batgirl had been following Lex. Lex had vanished. Batgirl had vanished. Simple logic suggested that if he found Lex, he'd find Batgirl. He arced his body in midair, shooting out another jump line to allow him to swing down to street level, right next to his car.

It was time to head back to Bludhaven and start over.

O-O-O-O

He was back in Bludhaven. Back in the satellite Batcave that had been set up for her. He pretty much had to manage from his apartment and a closet. Technically they were both supposed to use the facilities, but she actually got to live there.

Frankly, it showed. There were piles of discarded clothes here and there. Almost all of which were black, except for the underwear which tended towards plain white. There was a small mound of discarded coffee cups, pizza boxes and Chinese takeout containers in their own mouldering corner. She was an indifferent housekeeper at best, he mused. Alfred normally came out to straighten up at least once a week, but he'd asked him not to come out yet to preserve the place as close to how it was when she'd last been here.

He'd shucked off the cape and body armor, wearing just his tights and a singlet as he sprawled in what he tended to think of as "his" chair. It was the one in front of the keyboard that she never used. Well, she couldn't really use it. She was much more effective on the voice recognition software when she bothered to use the computer at all. When she did, she tended to prowl around the room while she talked.

He massaged his temples as he closed up the file that held her last nightly log. He'd combed through her logs trying to find clues to where she'd gotten off to. The procedure was greatly slowed down by the fact that she tended to be very... succinct... when it came to her logs. Worse, they were all audio recordings and his search software wasn't as good as he could hope when it came to audio files.

The transcripts that were auto-produced by the system tended to be of dubious quality and he couldn't afford to miss anything.

One file in particular, the last one, was particularly enlightening. It had been uploaded to the computer remotely and hadn't been an actual part of the chain of log files. It was still in a recently received sub-directory and had clearly been sent just before she had completely disappeared.

Unfortunately, the file had been of such poor quality and compressed so much that even after multiple run-throughs with audio enhancement software, he'd only just barely been able to make out what was being said. In conjunction with the information Eve had given him, it made more sense.

It had been Lex speaking to Amanda Waller. The sound had been terrible. It sounded like someone had been trying to record the conversation from some distance without the benefit of a directional mic at a bad angle. The strange little echoes in the sound had made him suspect she'd made the recording from a closed in space. Perhaps from under a car. What he could make out confirmed what he'd understood from the data.

Lex had sent the same information to Waller. The information that had driven him to Cadmus. Where, he suspected, Batgirl had followed him to.

Between those audio files, the data Eve Teschmacher (he found her last name out from a search of LexTech's employee database) had given him and the information he'd pulled out on his own, he'd begun to develop an idea of what had happened.

He tapped a control on the computer and grinned slightly as a heavily computer altered female voice spoke to him. "What's up, Current Boy Wonder?" On the display, a feminine green lined mask appeared.

He tried to speak lightly, but the tension in his voice was difficult to hide. "Babs, I'm working on Cass's disappearance."

"How can I help?"

"I need someone to bounce ideas off of, right now. Bruce is... incommunicado. This whole thing got weird and big really fast."

The voice switched from the filtered computer voice to a more natural feminine one. The mask on the display changed to a webcam shot of an attractive redhead wearing a sweater and a headset. "What've you found?"

"I've got a rough time line." He began. "Two weeks ago, Lex dropped in on Bruce Wayne, offering him a large and fairly juicy portion of the LexCorp database. During the visit, Lex was acting very strangely. Cass saw him on the monitors during that visit."

On the screen, the woman nodded. "I remember. Bruce told me before he dumped the data on me to check out."

"Did you find anything wrong with it?" He asked.

"It was all flat files. Bitmaps and text files. Nothing fancy, no viruses, no Trojans, nothing hidden in the flash drive, physically or digitally. All the data bore out. It was exactly what Luthor said it was."

He replied. "I guess that fits what Cass said about it. She said Luthor was telling the truth."

"Interestingly enough," Babs continued, "Wayne Enterprises wasn't the only recipient of Luthor's largess. The rest of that week, he parceled out other sections of his tech database to Apple, Boeing Aerospace, STAR Labs, Sony, Kordtronics, Cisco, Steel Works, Microsoft, Intel... maybe another dozen or so of the top tech companies. He pretty much gave the information away and requested only that they find ways of exploiting the technology in ways that would 'benefit the human race'."

Robin shook his head, "Not exactly the sort of behavior people associate with Luthor."

"I saw the tapes. He really was acting... odd. Almost like someone told him he was dying and he was trying to make up for his life." Babs said thoughtfully.

"That's what I thought at first, too." Robin conceded, "But I turned up some more info that made me reconsider that theory."

"What would that be?" She asked, intrigued.

He raised a hand and shook his head. "I'll get to that, Babs. But let me get through this in the order that it looks like it happened. In any case, because of the weird behavior, Cass began surveillance on Lex at his place in Metropolis."

She frowned. "I didn't know."

"She didn't tell anyone. Not even Bruce." He shook his head. "Things get really complicated on the day she disappeared. Last week."

"The same day Lex went open source with the LexCorp tech database." Babs replied.

"And also the day Lex got his fifteen minutes of internet fame by ending up on a viral YouTube video standing up to Chemo in Metropolis." Robin said. "Which was ironic since the Secret Service listed 'Cueball' as being in Prague at the timestamp of Chemo's attack."

"Which Lex was Cass watching?"

"The one in Metropolis. It turns out she wasn't alone. A few members of Suicide Squad were keeping an eye on him. That van Lex was standing next to in the video? Turns out that was their listening post."

"What about Euro-Lex?"

"Surgically altered impostor with a bomb in his gut. My guess is he was some sort of misdirection for everyone else while the Chemo attack got carried out."

"Except Lex survives the attack." Babs said brightly.

"Precisely. And in the process inadvertently lets Cass into his warehouse. My best guess, she ducked into the place while the door was open when Lex brought the Suicide Squad van into. That or she was clinging to the bottom of the thing when it was driven in. One way or another, she found herself inside Luthor's lair."

"So is she still there?" She asked with a grin.

Robin shook his head grimly, "I was just there earlier tonight. She's not there and neither is Lex. In fact Lex went missing that same day."

She sighed and took a sip from coffee cup that she'd picked up from offscreen. "You weren't kidding about this being complicated."

"It's about to get worse. While Cass was there, Lex called Waller and sent her some information that sheds light on his behavior from the week prior. We know this because Cass was able to get one transmission of this conversation out. I'm sending you a copy of the cleaned up version and the data that Lex is talking about. Luthor's home is shielded against most radio signals, but from the time stamps, I'm guessing she was able to send out a transmission while Lex had the door open to talk to Superman who was looking into the Chemo attack."

He tapped a few commands into his terminal and leaned back thoughtfully while she looked over what he had sent. He watched her expression grow progressively more grim as she read quickly through his transcript. "He's got to be lying."

"That's what I thought too." He said morosely. "But I think it's true." Now he looked nervous... he almost looked his age, if not younger. Babs momentarily looked like she wanted to reach through the screen and hug him. He met her gaze. "We- all of us have had head trauma of some sort during he course of our careers."

She frowned, but gestured for him to continue.

"MRI's, CAT scans. We've all had them done as some point." He was almost mumbling. "We've got copies of those images on the servers. I looked at my own head. I've got the damage exactly as Lex describes it."

Babs opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it with a snap. "You didn't just check yours, did you?"

"No."

"Mine?"

He nodded.

"Bruce? Dick?"

He nodded once more.

"Even Jason has those exact lesions on the amygdalla."

She leaned back in her seat then said quietly. "We've all faced Scarecrow's fear toxin. That 'damage' as you call it could be from that."

He shook his head. "Regardless of whether or not we believe Lex's conspiracy theory, he believed it. Not only that, he managed to convince Amanda Waller that it was real."

"What time was that?"

"Around eight in the morning." He replied. "I'm sure you can see for yourself what happened to their communications logs right after that time."

She squinted at something on the screen in front of her for a moment. "Bell Reeve went into communications shut down at 8:06 AM. They remain dark until 9:09 AM when an encrypted message is sent to the DEO. The DEO head office then shuts down all communications until Director Bones contacts the State Department, EPA, the FBI and the CIA simultaneously at 9:15 AM. Normal communications resume about an hour later, but then almost every single Cadmus facility goes into some sort of critical meltdown. Local responders and FBI specialists just 'happen' to be suspiciously available at all of them."

Robin nodded. "Lex carried out some sort of attack against Cadmus, with the tacit complicity of the US government. Or at least select parts of it. He specifically went to what he believed to be the main office. The one right outside Metropolis, accompanied by Deadshot and Metallo."

Babs steepled her fingers in front of her. "You think Cass, having overheard all of this, decided to follow them there."

"I'm certain of it." He replied. "Unfortunately, that's what makes finding out what happened next almost impossible."

"Because the entire facility was leveled by explosions at noon that same day." She said.

"Because it went kablooie and there's nothing left there but rubble." He settled deeper into his chair and sighed heavily. "I just... I'm sure she's still alive, but that place is pancaked."

"Any luck finding Metallo and Deadshot to see what they might know?"

"Deadshot's back in Belle Reeve." He replied. "He claims Luthor separated from them early and they didn't see what happened to him. Floyd thinks Lex was still in there when the bombs went off. He was surprised when he heard Lex was alive, except that's just a double Mercy hired to keep people thinking Lex is around. Floyd never even saw Cass. Meanwhile, Metallo is trying to sell off the info he picked up from Cadmus to the highest bidder tomorrow. I've got the location for the auction he's holding in Metropolis and I'm going to see if he knows anything that Deadshot didn't. But that's for tomorrow."

Babs tapped a few buttons on her own keyboard and blueprints appeared on Robin's screen. "The Cadmus facility that they went to has a couple of other exits. Deadshot couldn't have known for sure if Lex... or Cass had managed to get out of one of those."

He nodded. "I agree, but the area he said Lex was heading towards is close to the center of the facility. The absolute worst spot to evacuate himself from. Also, if they had managed to escape." He paused, "Why hasn't she contacted us? And why hasn't Lex contacted Mercy or Miss Teschmacher?"

Her eyes hardened, "We proceed on the assumption that they're still alive. It's been a week. Assuming they managed to get out... somehow... why wouldn't they get in touch with us?"

"Lex could be hiding from his conspiracy." He suggested.

"But Cass would have our protocols for situations involving compromised agents. She would at least have tried for a message drop." Babs pointed out.

Robin continued, "She could be too injured. Or still unconscious. As tough as she is, she's only human."

Babs nodded. "I keep thinking we missed something."

"Like how exactly they would've gotten out in the first place?" he asked, looking the blue prints over once more time. He checked a timer on the display, then checked it against his notes. "If he was in the middle of the structure and as deep down as Deadshot said he was... unless there were more secret tunnels down there, I can't figure any way Lex could've made it to the exits in time."

Babs slapped her forehead. "It's always the obvious thing we forget. Teleportation. Lex loves using it for his emergency exits."

Robin picked up on her enthusiasm. "No one's bothered to check for that sort of trace on the debris, because Lex was supposed to have gotten out, but that was the Lex-a-like Mercy hired!"

Babs nodded as she bent over a different keyboard to one side of her. "I'm retasking one of Uncle Sam's satellites to give us a better view of the site." Her fingers working smoothly across the controls, making a rapid-fire click-clack noise in the process. "It's got an ionization display filter that should hopefully still give us some teleport traces even after all this time."

She frowned at whatever her display was showing her for a long moment, before she tapped something that transferred what she was looking at to Robin's display. He nodded. "That's a definite teleport trace... kind of faint though, even if it is a week later. Almost looks like it wouldn't have been enough to port out a cat much less two adults, if we're going with the assumption that Cass escaped with Lex."

"The trace is coming from pretty deep underground. At that depth, it would have been next to impossible to get a lock for transport. That's why the trace is so faint," Babs shook her head. "But it's not just that. That's a Justice League transporter trace."

He seemed surprised, "You're kidding."

"No joke. Definitely a JLA trace. Let me pull up the transporter logs..." she stopped talking as she went through some high speed typing. "Strange."

Robin had pulled the same information up from his station. "Nothing on the logs for that time... except for- Hold on." He got up from the workstation and stalked over to one secured locker that every batcave was equipped with. Bruce, in his more jocular moments (few as they were), tended to refer to as the sci-fi closet.

Robin keyed in the unlock code and swung it open. Most of the more esoteric weapons were still in their cradles, but the specific item he was looking for was not where it was supposed to be. He rushed back to the station and spoke hurriedly. "The ID code in the log for that time is the emergency JLA transporter we have from the sci-fi closet, but the system logged the transport user as Flash and civilian passengers."

She nodded, "It's not Flash's access code. Except the basic log is convinced that Flash was part of the transport. The code for the transporter is the one Cass would have. The auto-return settings should have sent her and any passengers to the Batcave you're in. "

"Except she didn't end up here." He said, thoughtfully. He pulled up the programming and error logs of the transporter system for the time that they believed she... and most likely, Luthor... had been transported. "The mass readings are about right for Cass and one male passenger, approximately one hundred seventy pounds, which would be about right for Lex. The timestamp is right and the destination coordinates look correct, but there's something hinky about the origination coordinates."

She scrolled through the records and nodded. "The transport computer registered the teleport request as a dopplered signal. That's why it thinks it was Flash who requested the transport." She cross referenced another log file and then added. "There was an initial teleport request thirty seconds earlier that was too faint for the system to get a lock on. That came from the Cadmus facility. The second request showed up as dopplered. The designated 'old' signal is also from the Cadmus location, but the 'new' signal is from the waterfront in New Jersey..."

"So the system picked up two of almost exactly the same signal, it assumed the fainter signal was a transmission echo left behind by a speedster moving at close to lightspeed." Robin said.

"It's a reasonable assumption for the computers to make," She agreed. "They're sophisticated and smart, but they're not really good at dealing with the unexpected."

"GIGO," Robin said idly as he scrolled through the error logs and the programming information. An idea was forming based on how the JLA transport system dealt with speed differences. Normally the system had to make automatic adjustments to account for the difference in angular momentum in teleporting North to South, but it also needed to be able to cope with men and women who could move at extreme speeds on their own. The Flash was ridiculous enough, but even the Green Lantern could move at supersonic speeds when he needed to. "Babs... I know this is Luthor we're talking about... but how likely do you think it would be that he could whip up some sort of teleportation signal repeater?"

"You're thinking he was able to get some sort of signal repeater in Jersey that let them transport out?" Babs asked.

"Some sort of signal repeater that really confused the transport system's computer." He looked up at her, his voice had gone cold as he considered the possibilities. "If it thought it was transporting a speedster at full tilt heading roughly north-west... The inertial compensators would try to kick in a kinetic correction with the same speed impulse in a south-eastern direction."

"But the transport tube sensors would-" Babs began, but stopped herself as she realized what he had. "Your satellite cave doesn't have a transport tube, does it?"

"No. Just a cleared spot of floor designated the emergency landing area." He began frantically working out calculations on his terminal. "With the velocity adjustments and their mass... that puts them about a hundred miles west off the Florida coast."

Babs shook her head and said weakly, "Well, I guess that explains why we hadn't heard from Cass in a week then."

Robin ducked his head back down and overlayed a number of maps over his projected landing site. "With the currents and local shipping lines..." he mumbled, then trailed off as he checked. "The first place they're liable to land is here." He marked a section of his map and sent the image to Babs.

She eyed it dubiously. "Kooeykooeykooey?"

"It's only three miles from the assumed landing spot and the local currents in the area would take them to it, assuming they follow it." He said.

"I'll check the Coast Guard records for the past week and see if anyone's picked them up yet." She said with brisk efficiency. "I don't have any satellites I can point there right now, but maybe in... hmm... half an hour."

He shook his head. "It'll be faster if I just go. I'll borrow a bat wing and see if they are there." He rose to his feet and nodded curtly to her, "Thanks, Babs."

"This gives us a start." She said and switched off the video display. "I'll keep in touch." Her now electronically filtered voice came to him..

O-O-O-O

It took Robin fifteen minutes to get himself over to the rooftop hanger where they kept the fully fueled Batwing. He was sure Babs would have a satellite image of the island while he was still en route. Perhaps the time would be better spent further refining his calculations for where the transporter may have dumped them, but he needed to move. It shamed him that it took days before he even realized that Cass had vanished. He was familiar with using guilt and fear to fuel himself to keep working well past his physical limits.

The action also kept him from dwelling on his other discoveries. They'd mutilated his brain. This Cadmus Conspiracy Lex had discovered had chemically altered his personality. It made him wonder. Would he be in the mask and cape if they hadn't done that? Would he have simply ended up as just another high school student, concerned with just girls, prom and all the day to day minutiae that he never thought about as a costumed vigilante. He clenched a fist. He could see where Lex was coming from on this.

What scared him even more, though... was the fact that it had also been done to Bruce. He was glad that the Batman was pulling another extended absence from Gotham to deal with Ra's. He didn't know if he could face Batman with the knowledge. The damage was clearest of all on older brains. Bruce's amygdalla scarring dated back to roughly age six. He was certain that if they could get more precise dating on the fear toxin exposure it would date to the day his parents were killed.

It seemed to be a common theme. The exposure was almost always linked to trauma. His scars dated to his mother's death. Dick's was from his parents' death. With Jason, he wasn't absolutely certain, but it was the same year the second Robin had started living on the streets. Babs, ironically enough, one of the smartest of them all, was exposed late. It had happened the same year she had been crippled.

He shook his head to clear it. He was in a hurry. He had no time for woolgathering. He was about to finally board the sleek supersonic jet when a message chime from Oracle sounded in his communicator.

"Found something?" He asked.

Her voice was digitally filtered in his ear. "The satellite's not yet in place for a real-time peek, but I found some recent shots of Kooeykooeykooey from the past few days. The navy had war games in the vicinity and they were testing out their own surveillance capabilities when they scanned the island. No one actually looked at the shots which explains why they completely missed this..." As she spoke an image threw itself up on the heads up display of his mask. It showed the island, which he presumed was Kooeykooeykooey. At the beach, well above the tide line, but before the jungle line was a word spelled out in white rocks on the brown sandy beach. From the original perspective of the photo, it was upside down and at an angle, but Oracle obligingly rotated it to make it easier for him to read. The word was "HELP".

His face broke into a grin, "They're there."

"This was from four days ago." Oracle replied. "Shipping records show at least a half dozen ships passed that island heading in various directions. I'm still trying to track them all down and figure out if any of them might have picked up our lost souls." Even with the distortion her voice sounded relieved. "I doubt they're still on the island, but if you want to check while I try to track them down with what I have-"

"I'll go see if Cass is on the island." He cut her off. Babs obviously was going to say something in reply, but Robin suddenly sensed another presence on the rooftop with him. He spun, pulling a shuriken from one of the compartments on his belt.

There was a rush of wind as he found himself pinned to the side of the bat wing. Steely fingers closed around his wrist, crushing it painfully and forcing him to drop the shuriken.

His body was already about to automatically go into one of the possible options he had to break free, in this instance a head butt, when he was pulled short by realizing who was pinning him. He breathed out, "Cass?"

Her lovely Eurasian face broke into a delighted smile. She'd gone nut brown, obviously from exposure to the sun and the color suited her. "Tim." She said simply. She had not let go of his wrist and seemed to be delighting in keeping him pinned against the plane. A tiny flicker of a thought ran through his head and he wondered if he'd be enjoying this more if he hadn't been wearing body armor. The tanktop... no, that was a sports bra... that was all she was wearing as a top and it seemed awfully thin. He hoped... he sincerely hoped that she wouldn't pick up on that in his body language, but it was futile.

Her smile turned into a laugh as she let him go, then gave him a warm and friendly (oh so surprisingly friendly) hug.

"What happened to you?" He asked, sputtering. A thousand questions were suddenly running through his mind. He could distantly hear Babs asking him what was going on.

She fished something out of her belt... and he noted idly that she was still wearing her utility belt, despite having lost her top. She held up what he recognized as the teleporter unit, but it had seen better days. The plastic was scuffed. Someone had pried it open at some point and there were still wires sticking out of one of the grooves. She waggled it under his nose and said. "This sucks."

"Really?" He asked, helpless to think of anything else he could say. He did note idly that they were still holding each other and she didn't seem inclined to let go.

"Yes. Was supposed to go home. Lex was hurt bad. Went to beach, not home." She gave the much abused teleporter another glare. "Stuck on beach. Beach sucks. Lex was sick, but called ship. Hitched ride."

She flashed another brilliant smile at him. "Just dropped Lex off. Wanted to come home. Sleep for a week. Cookie binge."

"You have been busy." Tim said weakly, not sure how else to respond. They could do a proper debrief in the morning. Her too bright smile and the slight jitteriness in her shoulders told him she was pretty much on the edge of a collapsing. He could faintly smell the java-mint frappucino on her breath. Probably all that was keeping her upright.

"Take me home." She finished, then leaned forward and just fell asleep in his arms.

Oracle, who had become frustrated that Tim had been ignoring her, had taken control of the hangar's security camera and had been watching. She smiled broadly, though no one was there to see it. Cass was safe, although she looked like she needed a good long rest. The whole Luthor situation had grown and gotten a higher priority on her threat meters, but that would be for tomorrow. For now, it was enough for her that Cass was okay... although, Babs noted, watching the now very confused Robin, help the sleeping Cassandra back to the elevator... Cass did seem a bit more... affectionate towards Tim than she'd ever been before. Then again, perhaps she was reading too much into it. Obviously Cass had missed Tim during her island adventure.

She hoped that was all it was.


	12. Chapter 12

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 12**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex's return to his warehouse had seemed innocuous enough. Lex had simply staggered through the door, wearing the threadbare and ruined remnants of the three piece suit he'd left in. In his one hand, he held a package, wrapped tightly in some sort of black cloth that had the vague shape of an upside down bottle of some sort. He looked deeply tanned and more than a little manic.

He had announced loudly, "Honey, I'm home," then promptly crashed into the couch. Or rather he would have, but he'd missed and ended up sprawled inelegantly on the coffee table, crushing the latest issue of Cosmo beneath him.

A quick once-over by Eve and Mercy had determined that he was mostly exhausted, mildly malnourished and he had a slight fever. There was also compression tape around his chest that was holding broken ribs together. Eve had been all for getting Lex to a hospital, but Mercy had simply pulled an IV out from storage, set a few wireless monitoring pads on Lex's head and chest and ran a program on the main computer exactly the way Lex had told her to do so.

She'd had little trouble manhandling Lex into his bed in the corner of his workshop. What it lacked in privacy it made up for in terms of creature comforts. Memory foam padding, computer adjustable firmness provided by air-cells, silk sheets a remote controllable robot arm that could ferry things from the nearby kitchenette straight to the bedside table and a four foot wide plasma display that picked up all the premium channels.

Lex woke up a few days later, ravenously hungry and most definitely on the mend. He glossed over his escape and would only let Mercy and Eve know that he would have gotten back sooner, but there had been a teleport accident which left him stranded on a deserted island. He'd only just managed to catch a ride on the Midnight Star, a trader that had pulled into Metropolis Harbor that night he'd made it back. Eve kept insisting that they thank that Robin person, but Lex noted coolly that he'd never even seen Robin during the whole escapade. He didn't mention about his rescuer. He'd been raving and delirious during the first few days on the island. He'd realized belatedly that she must've shucked her full face mask and top off sometime during that time to help deal with the heat, but even after he'd become more rational, he'd felt too embarrassed and shamefaced to speak to the woman directly, who he vaguely remembered referring to several times as his personal Angel of Death.

Given how helpless he had been in front of her, he really didn't want to talk to her or about her. He'd actually seen the woman... well, girl, really... without her mask and even so he was highly disinclined to find some way to exploit it. She was intensely pretty without it. He suspected he even had her fingerprints around somewhere, but that didn't matter to him. She'd saved him. He owed her.

As much as he glossed over his own misadventures, he grilled the two ladies mercilessly on what had happened in his absence.

Eve Teschmacher, on finding out that Lex had disappeared, had moved in to the warehouse to keep Mercy company during the search. Mercy in order to keep Waller and Director Bones of the DEO off her case had hijacked and later hired the fake Lex from Europe when the poor sap had realized he had no one to report to anymore. Lex got the impression that there was more to that story than Mercy was telling him, but he was in a hurry and could only deal with highlights at the moment. Cadmus was completely gone. Its technological database had been wiped by the viruses Lex had unleashed. The only ones who still had a copy were himself and Metallo. The facilities and personnel had been absorbed by the DEO, the EPA and the CDC. One or two laboratories ended up in FBI hands and prosecutions were being handled quietly.

The strange spin-doctoring that Eve had engaged in on the morning of Chemo's attack had culminated in a very abrupt invitation from Saturday Night Live to be a fill-in host when their original host, Booster Gold, had been unable to make it due to some sort of "prior engagement".

Lex tried to get out of bed, eager to get back to work. He unwrapped the black cloth to reveal the much battered half-head of the Manhunter that had once masqueraded as Paul Westfield. Stuck into the bottom of it was a two foot long stick which made the whole thing look suspiciously like a mace. Mercy had taken great delight in informing him that he was confined to bed until his ribs mended properly.

Not even a quick display on the slide showing Mercy that the ribs were already more than half-healed bought him his freedom. Neither did teleporting in titanium rods to hold the ends in place, which Lex pointed out repeatedly was spectacularly impressive and would no doubt revolutionize medicine at some point.

In the end, though grousing and complaining, Lex kept to his bed while Mercy and Even went about with the rest of their day.

Mercy more or less spent her time taking care of Lex. Or rather, she pretended to do so, since it gave her an excuse to stick close by and take advantage of the very wide-screen TV at the foot of Lex's vastly comfortable bed. Lex's persistent complaints about being forced to watch daytime television fell on deaf ears.

Eve on the other hand had set herself up with a small mini-office in one corner of Lex's work area. She had been mostly working from home and now that she'd unofficially moved in with them, it made sense that she'd have her own work area. Lex hadn't really had a chance to object, or even look at it, but it had grown organically over the past week or so. It consisted of a desk, where she'd parked her laptop, a charging station for her smart phone, and a few other knick-knacks from her previous home office. With those few items she was already quite up to the task of managing Lex's remaining holdings.

Although she was technically working, she did keep finding excuses to wander over to Lex's bed and chat with him and Mercy, or she'd find some excuse to come over to ask Lex's opinion on one investment or another. That seemed perfectly innocent if one discounted how often she'd be leaning over Lex with her low-necked top hanging open for his benefit. Not to mention all the little touches and lingering smiles.

Mercy seemed amused. Lex was bemused, but also somewhat zonked out on painkillers to really be able to acknowledge clearly.

Some time around noon, Lex finally convinced Mercy to leave to pick up some Thai for the three of them for lunch. Lex had been very specific and had rattled off a high-end Thai place in uptown Metropolis that it would take Mercy at least an hour to get to, considering city traffic.

It had only been a day and he was already at his limit with her sudden, though not unexpected, mother hen behavior. Her snarkiness asserted itself sporadically, but she was becoming smothering. He suspected it was just her way of overcompensating for having been so angry with him when he'd left. Of course, mother hen or not, she never could resist little teasing. It was just how their relationship worked.

Mercy tossed Lex a wink and a smile as she headed out. "You know, Lex... if you really wanted some private time with Eve, you could have just told me."

Lex looked up and stared at her, not entirely sure how to respond to that. His brain still felt like it was in a fog. The pain-killers were not only dulling his reaction time, but his wits as well. "Whu-?"

"Just be careful with you ribs, Lexy." Mercy said airily as she tossed the keys to the Ford into the air then caught them on their way down. "Don't be too... vigorous."

Eve at that point was still in her office set-up at the opposite end of the work space. She was tied up doing research on grain futures, especially once the market got hold of the strains Lex had unleashed upon them. They could only just faintly hear her pleasant voice across the sound baffles Lex had activated for her.

Lex finally realized what Mercy was getting at a little too late for a witty rejoinder. The woman had roared out of the warehouse. The air scrubbers caught the exhaust from the sedan before the smell could even reach the remaining occupants. Lex considered trying... something... but even he had to admit that between the exhaustion and the pain killers and the unpleasant sensations from the drugs, he was simply not in the mood.

He put something from the recordings on randomly as he did his best to stealthily get out of bed. Or barring that, at least use the robot waldo to pick up some equipment so he could finally work on the Manhunter head. He had been out of it long enough and while it seemed as though Cadmus truly was mostly gone, Lex suspected there was still more to this than just the obvious.

Normal Manhunters did not operate in the fashion that these ones did. At least nothing in their previous encounters with the alien robots would explain the behavior that Lex had encountered and the conspiracy these things had been involved in.

The only way to get any more information at this point was to interrogate one. Conveniently, Lex had kept his hands on Westfield's head. All he needed was some way to communicate with it and a means to convince it that Lex was authorized to have the intel he needed.

He'd hacked into alien systems before. The principles were roughly the same. No matter how it functioned. The essential idea was to be allowed in without the system realizing you weren't supposed to be.

He was reluctant to allow the head access to a system, even one that was isolated from the network. He needed the absolute bare bones minimum to keep the Manhunter from trying any sort of escape or self-destruct. Something slow, isolated and primitive would be preferable. It might slow down his ability to access the information he needed, but it also protected him from potential Manhunter retaliation. It was a sensible precaution, he told himself.

Now he just had to find something sufficiently crippled to connect the head to that he could still work with.

As he mused, his attention ended up on what was playing on the wide screen TV.

He had put up the last recorded show on the digital video recorder. It was the Saturday Night Live that his impostor had starred in. He laughed without really meaning to. The sketch was one where Verne Troyer, the man who had played Mini-me in the Austin Powers movies, was reprising his role as "President Lex Luthor". The little man portrayed Lex's physical tics and wildly exaggerated verbal style with ludicrous and overblown panache. Even Luthor had to admit the man did a good parody of him. The sketch itself, however, had the Lex impostor coming in to their Oval Office set and proclaiming that Verne was an impostor. The accusations began shooting back and forth between the two getting more and more wildly hysterical and megalomaniacal.

Best of all, several other SNL regulars were portraying various other government officials and secret service men who kept maintaining with perfect deadpan delivery that they couldn't tell the difference between the smaller man and the Lex-look-a-like. Lex laughed and realized that it did feel good.

Once upon a time he would never have accepted such an affront to his dignity as this. Lawsuits would have been flying before the broadcast even completed. He knew Eve meant well, but she hadn't known him very well during the bad times. She'd formed an overly romanticized notion of his personality and nobility. She'd bought into the old Lex Luthor press release. If she had known him better, then the whole SNL guest hosting would not have happened and frankly, Lex would not be laughing so hard it would be threatening his ribs. It really did hurt to laugh. But it also felt very, very good.

He wiped the tears out of his eyes. Panting to catch his breath as the recording went to a commercial. Lex felt revived. New. The revelations that he'd found had changed him. He could never be sure just how much, but change had been inevitable. And necessary, he told himself.

He'd pulled himself out of that self-destructive obsessive cycle, he told himself. A cynical part of him insisted that he'd only just found something new and horrible to focus all his attention on, but unlike before, this at least was... more socially acceptable.

He managed to get hold of the control for the waldo dropping down from the ceiling and set it to bring him a micro-tool set. With renewed enthusiasm, Lex pried open sections of Westfield's head to reveal the glittering circuitry beneath.

He still needed something to connect it to. His last shot had completely destroyed the head's voice circuitry and he'd need at least a basic set of speakers as well as an interface in order to get anything out of the head.

Lex shrugged and was about to send the waldo back out to the warehouse for an old laptop... or even an old PDA... when he noticed the stuffed toy next to him on the bed.

It was a Storytime Teddy, an animatronic teddy bear that had a fairly basic voice recognition processor and could talk back and interact with the child playing with it to a limited degree. It also had an mp3 player that would synch it's mouth movements, as well as the vague flailings of its arms and legs in time with whatever was currently playing. It was a latest version of the Teddy Ruxpin toy from days past. It was absolutely perfect.

Luthor got a wicked grin and began to open the velcro flap that kept Teddy's electronics hidden away.

O-O-O-O

Mercy returned, weighed down with pad thai, nasi goreng and a multitude of satays. She was in her uniform, complete with its cap. She breezed past Eve's desk where the woman, in much more casual wear, had been staring at a spreadsheet. When the blonde did not acknowledge the redhead's arrival, Mercy shoved a hand between Eve's eyes and her laptop's monitor and snapped her fingers briskly.

Eve started. "Gah! Don't do that!"

"You looked like you were stuck." Mercy smiled back. "Have you been at your desk the whole time I was out?"

Eve blinked at her, "You were out? Sorry, it's just once I'm in the zone, I kind of lose track of everything else."

"Including meals," Mercy tutted. "You're as bad as Lex in your own way, but at least you're not as annoying." She held up the packaged meal. "I have food. Join me and Lex for lunch."

Eve nodded agreeably and rose from her desk, her back making little popping noises as she did so. Once on her feet she noticed a sudden change in Mercy's expression.

"You've been at your desk since I left right?"

Eve frowned, "Yes, I think so. There's a tricky bit in our operating budget that I was trying to figure out with the finance guys in Chicago-"

Mercy gestured dismissively as she stalked towards Lex's bed area. "Cause it looks like our patient is planning on annoying me on his first day conscious."

The two women arrived to find Lex still in bed, but the bed was now almost completely covered in various electronic components, some of which beeped softly and others flashed vari-colored lights. There seemed to be a fine tracery of wire connecting every bit to every other one, as though someone had spun a gossamer web across the entire bed.

In Lex's hands were a naked battery box and a set of motors and armatures that might have been a crude humanoid figure. It had two arms, two legs and a head, but that was about all the could be said for it. Whatever it was that Lex was subjecting the box to, it was clearly upsetting the... thing. As Lex kept connecting and disconnecting various leads and components to the armature, it's spindly mechanical arms and legs twitched and flailed feebly in his grip.

Nearby was a small pile of fuzzy brown, red and blue cloth. Like the skin of a child's stuffed toy that had been completely peeled off from what the toy contained. This was exactly what it was.

"Which part of 'No work' did you not understand, oh mighty genius?" Mercy asked coolly as she put the food down on the bedside table.

Lex looked up from his work. "Well, to be fair, all you said was I had to stay in bed." He smiled brightly as he micro-soldered another circuitboard component to the others that had already been crudely soldered, tied and glued together. He shrugged. "I got bored. It was work on figuring out what the Cadmus Conspiracy was really up to or design a nuclear powered robot popcorn maker."

Eve started to laugh, but then her eyes grew wide. "Is that, Teddy?" she asked, pointing a suddenly shaky finger at the disassembled and rebuilt toy bear innards in Lex's hands.

"Yes?" He asked slowly.

"You took apart my Teddy?" Eve's voice became shrill with disbelief. Mercy slapped her forehead with the heel of one hand.

"It was yours?" Lex asked weakly.

The blonde woman smacked him hard on the shoulder, making his still healing ribs sting "I put him next to you so he could keep an eye on you while you recovered, you big jerk! Not so you could tear him apart for... for... whatever this is!"

"Well, now you've done it." Mercy muttered and rolled her eyes.

"I didn't... it was just there, I didn't reali-" Lex sputtered.

Eve huffed, folding her arms across her chest and looking like she was about to cry. Mercy put an arm around her and mouthed to Lex without Eve being able to see her, "Apologize and fix it!"

"I'm sorry. I really am. Let me fix him back up. He'll be good as new." He tried to smile, but realized that he couldn't exactly put poor abused Teddy back in quite the same condition he'd been in earlier. He'd already started adding on additional components to the toy's limited processor. He'd have to come up with something... but on the other hand he also couldn't discard the changes he'd already made. His best bet, he realized, would involve having to buy her a new internal armature for Teddy and then just carrying on with what he'd already started.

Mercy gently led Eve away. The redheaded woman glared at Lex briefly over her shoulder and mouthed, "I will talk to her and calm her down. Fix it."

Lex set the armature down and held his hands up in a placating gesture. He was starting to miss living alone.

O-O-O-O

Lex's bed was clear once more when Eve finally walked back. They'd taken lunch with them, so Lex hadn't had anything except for some crackers and a vitamin water that he'd managed to snag with the waldo from the kitchenette area. The painkillers were wearing off and the fog was starting to lift from his head. Unfortunately the multitude of pains were still in place, but he decided he'd simply bear with them as the price for being able to string together entire sentences without getting distracted by shiny objects.

His primary business assistant still looked upset, but wasn't as bad as she'd been earlier. Mercy was cleaning up the remains of lunch, and had decided that Lex got no part of it as his punishment for upsetting Eve.

She plopped onto his bedside and gave him a glare. It was loaded with all the guilt her Jewish upbringing allowed her to bring to bear. Lex, despite having faced down alien invaders, primal god-things and congress, squirmed under her watchful eye.

"Mercy told me you don't mean to be a jerk." She said with a calculated hurt tone. "I understand you're a genius and you get a little caught up in what you're doing so you don't really think about the consequences- but I got that Teddy from my mom right before we found out about her cancer. It meant a lot to me."

Lex looked down at his empty hands. "I'm sorry. I really am." He glanced over to the bedside uncomfortably. "I suppose you've never really had to deal with me up close and outside of a professional environment." He smiled ruefully. "Here you are tooling around in a T-shirt and biking shorts and I'm in my PJ's-" He paused and lifted up his blanket as he realized something. "These aren't mine."

Eve tried to suppress a smile, but she didn't try very hard. "Mercy said you'd put some sort of security lock on your closet so she couldn't get it to open. We had to put you in one of hers."

Lex looked puzzled. "Mercy doesn't own any pajamas."

Eve shrugged. "She said they were hers."

Lex waved his hand dismissively. "Sorry, we're getting off-topic here. What I'm trying to say is that I'm sort of difficult to get along with. Now in the old days, I probably wouldn't have even bothered trying, but frankly, I do like you Eve. You're a good worker and I do sort of wish you had kept your distance, because I was doing my best to keep my... er... extra-curricular activities... and the business away from each other."

She smiled faintly. "Is that what you call it?"

"What I'm trying to say is that I really did want to keep you from falling into this world where I get teleported to the middle of the ocean... and giant chemical slime things attack in the morning... and I go on assaults to government bases using traumatized telepathic midgets. But you're here now and I'm going to try to be as accommodating as I can be," He took a deep breath and wore a slightly worried expression on his face, "But sometimes, I'm not going to be very good at it."

She patted his hand gently, "I already understand. I am still a little bit annoyed with you, but not as much as earlier."

He beamed. "I'm glad to hear it."

The conversation was cut short as a Mercy finally deigned to wander past, noting the change in the atmosphere around Lex's bed. "If you aren't mad at him anymore, Eve, you can get started on the sloppy makeouts. Just give me a little time to get the popcorn ready."

Eve blushed prettily and Lex raised an eyebrow, "I thought I wasn't supposed to do anything strenuous."

Mercy shrugged. "You can let her do all the work. You should both be used to that already."

Lex sputtered indignantly as Eve began to laugh. The laugh died in her throat as a lump from beneath the sheet somewhere in the vicinity of Lex's stomach began to move and shift. Lex hadn't noticed it but Eve could only stare. Suddenly a furry bear head popped out of the sheets next to Lex. It was Storytime Teddy's head, or at least it seemed to be. The limbs popped up after as it awkwardly squirmed its way free, accompanied by little whining noises and muttered complaints.

Finally it was entirely free of the blanket and seemed to be dusting itself off, or it was trying to. The arms and legs only had minimal coordination and a single, very limited point of articulation. It had no actual hands, just the soft padded paws sewn onto the ends of its arms. "Someone will pay for this indignity!" It said, the words completely incongruous with the baritone sing-song and manically cheery story-telling voice that the bear's voice box was limited to.

Mercy stared.

"Teddy?" Eve asked incredulously.

The bear seemed to twitch on hearing her voice and then turned to her and said in that same sing-song voice. "Yes, ma'am." It saluted, but in the process overbalanced itself and comically flopped backwards onto the bed.

Eve beamed. "I thought you couldn't fix him anymore after what you did!"

"I didn't... exactly." Lex said evasively.

"There's something weird about that bear." Mercy said slowly.

The bear waggled a blunt paw at Lex, "You will pay for this, Luthor!" it sing-songed.

"Did you do something to the AI?" Eve asked, looking to Lex as she picked up the toy. It settled down immediately once she was holding it.

"Yeah... what exactly happened to that robot head on a stick that you were fiddling with this morning?" Mercy asked suspiciously.

"Well, I kind of put a lobotomized version of the robot's personality and its entire memory, or at least what I could salvage inside Teddy." Lex said brightly. "I also had to rig up an internal jammer to keep it from being able to communicate with the other manhunters. There's also a couple of USB ports in him now to let me plug him into monitors, and other equipment. Normally it should have been impossible, but I am terrifyingly brilliant."

"You turned my Teddy into an alien robot... thing?" Eve stared.

"Remember what I said about not always being able to get the whole accommodating thing? This is one of those times." Lex said with sheepish grin. "On the upshot, since you'd already imprinted yourself into the rudimentary AI... um... Teddy had, that correlates to the loyalties that the Manhunter has and transfers it to you."

"What does that mean?" Asked Eve.

Mercy laughed. She'd worked it out just a tiny bit quicker than Eve had, as she was used to the sort of strangeness that followed Lex. "What he means is that the alien robot brain he plugged into Storytime Teddy considers you its boss."

Lex nodded. "I'm going to need your help to interrogate him."


	13. Chapter 13

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 13**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Dinner was comprised of the leftovers from lunch, augmented by a snack pocket or two and some terrifyingly strong black coffee. Eve had begged off, claiming that she'd never be able to sleep if she took any. Mercy had hers with a shot of Bailey's.

Lex had sent the ladies off after he'd asked Eve to read a short polysyllabic phrase in some sort of foreign language.

Storytime Teddy, who the two women had started to think of as Robo Teddy, because of Lex's description, had responded back in that same strange language. Lex rattled off something else in that language and suddenly it was talking non-stop for several minutes.

"Alright, I'm going to need some private time with the bear." Lex said finally after the Robo-Teddy had stopped.

Mercy smirked slightly, "Second childhood or heretofore unidentified doll fetish?"

Lex narrowed his eyes at her slightly then made shooing motions to both women. "You want me to stay in bed and I'd rather not have to lock myself in the bathroom or your room. I will need some privacy for this, because otherwise the unfiltered knowledge delivered to your unprepared minds from the bear could render you comatose or worse."

Eve looked stricken. "Seriously?"

Lex laughed at her expression, but not unkindly. "No, of course not. But you're both very distracting, so off with you."

Mercy gave an professional, albeit offended sniff. She turned on her heel, took Eve by the arm and with a great deal more distracting hip swaying than absolutely necessary, stalked off.

He then had done something... Mercy wasn't entirely sure what... to the sound baffles surrounding his bedroom area in the open plan space and the force field had turned slightly opaque. Like frosted glass, only this was more like frosted air.

Hours had passed, and although Eve had gotten back to her work, Mercy felt restless and had retired to her room to work out or take a nap, she told Eve she hadn't decided which when she'd left.

Now it was late and all the hammering Mercy had done to the hardened air surrounding Lex's bed had availed them nothing, except for some bruised fists. She'd changed out of her uniform and was only wearing an oversized T-shirt. Eve had changed into pajama pants and a tank top. The two of them sat chatting idly.

Mercy held out her cup of coffee for a refill before she continued their conversation.

"That's the problem with Lex. He is a genius. When he bothers to pay attention, he can turn all that brilliance into pure charisma. He anticipates what people will do, how they'll react and can do a pretty good job of tailoring what he's going to say or do to make people do exactly what he wants." Mercy popped the last bite of a ham and cheese snack pocket into her mouth. "He does it when he wants something. At home, around people he's comfortable with, or if he's thinking about something else, or if he doesn't think someone's worth dealing with, it's an entirely different story. We barely register for him, other than as an audience, or maybe mobile pieces of furniture. Unless you can keep up with him, or be able to fake keeping up with him, he's going to end up leaving you behind."

She nodded seriously at her companion. "He doesn't mean to, most of the time. He just gets very self-involved. Self-absorbed. One of those. His brain works so fast that it takes conscious effort for him to dumb himself down to talk to us mere mortals." She laughed. "Ironically, he loves playing to an audience, so he has to keep mentally editing what he's about to say so that it comes out as something we can understand... or in my case, pretend to understand. The whole thing is just part of his process."

Eve waved vaguely at the closed in bed. "So all of this?"

"This is nothing," Mercy said dismissively. "Back in the bad old days when he was still jonesing for big blue, Lex would go on these manic benders... days long plotting out his next moves in intricate detail. Tons of little hand written sticky notes over every free surface and doodles all over the whiteboards. Right now, It's only been a couple of hours so far, so I'm not too worried yet." She pulled out a key fob from her pocket. "If he's in there too long though, I use this to short out the power in the lab, which should hopefully also lower his force field."

"Isn't that for the garage door?" Eve asked doubtfully.

Mercy grinned. "Yes it is. It can also start any of the cars and arm the laser turrets pointing out of the second floor windows. I'll get Lex to set you up with one as soon as he gets his head out of his backside."

The blonde woman shook her head ruefully, "I honestly did not expect him to be like that, though."

Mercy shrugged, "Well, I guess you build up romantic daydream of how you expect the guy to be in your head, except he never turns out like that in real life."

Eve's eyes narrowed, "Why am I getting the feeling that you know exactly what I'm going through?"

Mercy laughed sharply, then muttered evasively, "He is awfully charming when he wants to be, isn't he?"

Whatever Eve would've said in response was lost to the static crackle as the frosted air of the force field dissipated and Lex stepped towards the kitchenette table they were at. He looked weary and grim. He nodded curtly to both. He tossed Robo-Teddy carelessly towards Eve, who caught it in surprise. The stuffed toy was voicing small complaints of rough treatment in its storytelling voice.

Lex stepped past them to root through the fridge.

The women could sense his mood, though he'd said nothing. They could sense his mood in the very silence he'd brought out of the enclosure with him. Mercy didn't even try to chide him for leaving bed. He had a slice of cold pizza from days past in one shaky hand and a large cup of coffee in the other before he sat at the table with them, his expression still drawn and quietly furious.

He chewed through the pizza mechanically, clearly taking no joy from it. Only accepting that his body needed sustenance. Sensing the need, Eve put a hand on the one he'd held the coffee cup with. It was as cold as ice, she noted. He took her hand in his and squeezed, hard and she could see the harsh lines of his features begin to soften ever so slightly at that.

Finally he was down to the crust of the slice when his expression changed suddenly to a comic grimace and he took several deep pulls of his coffee. "What the hell was I just eating?" He asked, sticking his tongue out and trying to scrape it across his upper teeth as though that would remove the foreign taste.

Mercy answered brightly, "Curry Pizza. Eve knew a place that had it and could deliver."

"Am I tasting sultanas?" Lex asked before taking another mouthful of his black, sweet coffee and swishing it in his mouth.

Eve flashed a smile. "It's the mild version."

"It's disgusting!" Lex shook his head.

Eve pouted at him and Mercy rolled her eyes. "Are you ready to tell us what you found out that's got you ready to pop a blood vessel again? Is it as bad as the brain conspiracy?"

"It's the same thing. I just found out who's really behind it." Lex sighed. Eve gave his hand another squeeze and some more of the tension seemed to leave his body, leaving it deflated.

"So it isn't the alien robots?" Mercy asked, doing her best to prod Lex into lecture mode. Getting him to explain how clever he was being was always a sure fire way to cheer him up. She noted with approval that Eve was also doing her part to get him to relax. That one was a keeper.

"It is the alien robots. More precisely, the ones they're serving." He nodded to the silent teddy bear sitting in the crook of Eve's other arm. "Go on. I just spent four hours finessing my way verbally, in Oan no less and with no translator, I might add, around your security blocks. Query and response, Manhunter: Who do the Manhunters serve?"

The little bear replied in its singsong voice, "The Manhunters serve the Guardians."

"Who or what are the Guardians?" Eve asked timidly.

Mercy was far less deferential. "I think we're going to need the Cliffnotes version here, Lex."

He nodded and pulled a PDA out of his pajama pocket. He fiddled with it for a few moments and the lights suddenly dimmed. Some of the huge open space above their heads turned blue and spelled out in white letters, "No Input."

Lex clicked his tongue, then tapped on the PDA a few more times. "I got a little bored while Teddy was telling me everything he knew and built a holographic display projector. It's slaved to his memory so I'm actually pulling the pictures from him."

Mercy sniffed. "You never share any of the good toys, I swear."

Lex raised an eyebrow and asked her. "I can rig this up to show daytime TV on a display about the size of a small theater screen. We could even move the easy chair from your room down to a nice spot right in front of it."

"I'll be good." Mercy said sarcastically. Eve laughed.

"And in case either of you were wondering," Lex said, "I anticipated needing a presentation."

Eve glanced over to Mercy, "Wow, he really does think of everything ahead of time."

Lex gave a tight smile. "I'm going to need it to convince Ross, Waller and likely Bones to give me some cooperation. I may as well test it out on you two first."

Eve frowned, "You mean President Ross?"

Lex nodded. "Yes, Pete is actually a reasonable man for the most part. It's Waller who's going to give me trouble."

He tapped the PDA once more and the image on the screen resolved into one of a short, blue-skinned, white-haired old man with an enormous head. Half his mass seemed to be comprised of head. The rest of it's body was covered in a shapeless red robe. The being's skin didn't seem excessively wrinkled, but there was something about the eyes that hinted at tremendous age and something like wisdom. For comparison a human was shown next to the first figure, almost twice its height.

"This is a Guardian of Oa. Or at least that's what they look like to us. Teddy over there keeps hinting that's not what they really look like, but just how we're able to perceive it."

"Looks like an overgrown baby." Mercy smirked.

"Precisely. If they control how they're perceived, that's probably intentional. Big head, stumpy body... it resembles popular conceptions of creatures that are more evolutionarily advanced than we are and at the same time looks kind of like a baby, making us subconsciously find it less threatening, while simultaneously reinforcing the subtle idea that it is superior to us."

Eve nodded, "What's so important about them?"

The image on the screen pulled back, showing a red planet. The whole kept zooming out further and further until all that could be seen were white specks that had been galaxies before the zooming image had rendered them completely indistinct. White letters floated over the whole with the words: "The Universe."

"Several things. They claim to be the oldest sentient race. It's easy to believe that claim. They've been around long enough that factions and political groups within their society who had splintered off have been separated from the main mass long enough to speciate into entirely new races."

The screen flashed back to the image of the blue dwarf. Arrows lead away from it to a diagram of humanoids in a multitude of colors, with various labels: "The Controllers", "Zamarons", "Thunderers." and more besides.

"There's even some rumors that humans are another such offshoot, but that's not important to the rest of our tale... or maybe it might matter, in any case," Lex tapped a few more controls and the image focused back on the Oan, with the universe in the background.

"They pushed the absolute limits of science and knowledge. They had in their hands the power to impose their desires upon an unsuspecting cosmos. Believing themselves superior to the rest of creation they set out to stamp their own personal touches upon the universe at large." The image of universe behind the Oan began to be literred with explosions.

"The Oans waged war on all that they believed to be inimical to the order they sought to impose. They captured as much of the wild magic in the universe as they could and contained it within a vessel. They bottled up powerful multi-dimensional beings because they could not be controlled. They manipulated, altered, cheated and made war for their ideals of order against any other race that stood up to them."

Lex gestured and next to the Oan, the image of a Manhunter appeared. A humanoid form in a skin-tight red outfit with blue hands and faces. If one looked closely, they seemed like a human-sized and proportioned parody of a Guardian. "These were their soldiers. The Manhunters."

He glanced at his audience, who had been listening intently. Mercy said, "Those were the things you were fighting, weren't they?"

Lex nodded. "The Manhunters, their obedient robot slaves... except supposedly the Guardians of Oa built them to be a little too clever. I'll get back to that in a moment, but suffice to say that they kept trying to impose their own racial version of OCD on everyone else until something critical happened."

The images of the explosions suddenly faded out from the universal image and suddenly a single ripple distorted the whole, expanding out from the center, warping and distorting the image behind the Oan who looked comically worried and fretful all of a sudden.

Lex inclined his head towards the small mechanical bear. "Teddy's database didn't include what exactly the fatal act was, but whatever it was the end result was that the Oans, as a race experienced the equivalent of a psychotic break. My guess? They finally figured out that in trying to keep control over everything, it all began spiraling out of control."

"Their colonies were emancipating themselves from their central government, the slave populations of their conquered areas were in open revolt, They were still locked in wars with the Reach and the Spider Guild. It was at that critical moment that the worst happened."

A wedge-shaped sliver of the universal diagram suddenly reversed colors, becoming white with black specks. "The Manhunters decided to follow their programming to its logical extreme. They had been programmed to bring order to the universe. Life was not orderly by any means."

Eve understood what Lex meant before Mercy did. "They wanted to kill everyone."

Lex nodded. "Genocide on a universal scale. They'd managed to completely eradicate all life in an entire sector of space before the Guardians had realized what was happening and moved to stop them."

He saw the blank expressions on their faces and he paused thoughtfully. "I know that's a bit abstract. The Guardians divided space into 3600 sectors. The Manhunters had managed to kill 1/3600 of the population of the entire universe."

Lex shook his head, "No still too abstract. In Earth terms, out of our population of six billion, 1/3600 of that is about 1.7 million people. That's about the entire population of Kansas city and outlying areas. Except there are quadrillions of beings throughout the universe. Suffice to say the number of sentient beings that died at the Manhunter's hands in that brief period when they had complete control of sector 666 far exceeds the number of humans who have ever lived on Earth."

Once they had begun to look sufficiently horrified, Lex continued. "This was the story they fed to the rest of the universe. The genuine horror and terror of the rest of the universe at this grim and implacable threat pulled almost everyone together to fight it. Rebellious slave populations signed up to help, happy to be given leave to destroy what had up to that point been their oppressors. Colonies calmed down and accepted Oa's authority even as they were stripped of men and material, all to confront the Manhunter threat." Lex paused significantly, as the image of space on the screen began to fill with a tremendous fleet of warships. Superimposed above the ships were noble profiles of beings of dozens of races, all racing to confront a mass of humanoid figures in red with expressionless blue faces.

The image of impending war pulled back to show a Guardian over all of it, holding strings as though the whole were an elaborate puppet show. "All under Guardian command." Lex sighed and the image resolved back to Oa once more, the image zooming in until the central power Battery was revealed. A tremendous lantern-shaped construction aglow with green energy. "That was the turning point for the Guardians. Although they were still considered a bunch of overzealous, controlling little bastards, the general impression the rest of the universe had of them had become less harsh. With the Manhunters disarmed and broken, the Guardians used sentient beings from all over the universe instead for their soldiers."

Around the central power battery, creatures of all sorts, all wearing the Green Lantern uniforms appeared. "The GLC served as a peacekeeping force doing its best to handle the high-handed dictates of their masters. Heroes who bring law and order to a restless universe. It's a pretty picture."

Eve asked, "So all the Green Lantern guys on Earth work for these guys?"

Mercy interrupted, "Aren't we just down to one? That guy in New York with the nice butt and the crab mask? Although I think the old guy was still around, but he changed his name or something."

Eve shook her head. "Two weeks back Hal Jordan showed up again and said that the Green Lantern Corps was being reestablished. Even that angry red-headed guy who used to be in the JLI and the black guy were back."

"What about crab mask Lantern?" Mercy asked with a pout.

"Still in New York, I think. Although he ditched the crab mask and changed his outfit." Eve replied.

Lex looked both impressed and surprised. "I didn't realize you kept up with this sort of thing."

Eve smiled at him and said. "I know you've got an interest in superhero types, so I keep an eye on that kind of news."

Mercy shrugged, "So I'm still waiting to find out what the blue bobble-head people have to do with the great brain conspiracy, boss."

Lex nodded. "Yes, yes... well, now I know something that none of the Guardian's soldiers know about." He smiled grimly.

Mercy rolled her eyes. "Just tell us already or I'm going to break some more of your ribs."

Eve gave a startled gasp, but Mercy winked at her.

Lex replied. "The Manhunters never rebelled."

Eve looked puzzled for a moment, before horror dawned in her eyes. Mercy didn't even bother to hide her disdain as she rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes... very dramatic, but spell it out for us. Why is this important?"

"The Guardians told them to kill everyone in that sector?" Eve asked slowly.

Lex beamed at her. "Miss Teschmacher goes to the head of the class." He rose to his feet and began to pace. "It all proceeds from that one fact. The Manhunters could not rebel. They were not given enough freedom to do so. Their intelligence had too many limits built into it to force them to obey the Guardians. The slaughter was a test case. The Guardians had found themselves in a bad position politically. They'd expanded hard and fast. Made too many enemies. They hadn't bothered making any allies. A stiff wind would've toppled everything they'd put together, so they manufactured a scenario that allowed them to kill many birds with a single stone."

He waved idly to the display. "A great deal of resistance to the Guardian conquest of the time was centered in Sector 666. By eliminating their rivals there, they also created a more favorable position for themselves in universal politics. The slaughter was expected to trigger one of two reactions. A panic which would have left those individual races ripe for the picking... or having the rest of the warring factions unite under a single banner against the rampaging Manhunters, with the Guardians 'reluctantly' taking the lead against their wayward creations. Both cases would again have generated favorable positions for them. Their success at 'dealing with' the Manhunter threat opened up the door for them to create a more more polished public image for themselves, leaving their former robotic lackeys as the scapegoats for their previous poor diplomacy."

Mercy looked thoughtful, but snapped her fingers suddenly as something occurred to her. "So now they come out of the whole deal smelling of roses and they still have a bunch of homicidal robots who will still obey their every command. She gave a low, appreciative whistle. "Anything dirty, despicable or just plain deplorable they need done, they can send their robot flunkies to do it and no one would be the wiser."

"Most of the Manhunters think they are free of Guardian control and are following their own agenda. Except for a rare few, they don't even realize they still serve Oa." Lex nodded. "They do the Guardian's dirty work, like they did here. Like they did in a thousand other places scattered throughout the stars, but most especially here."

Eve still looked horrified but asked, "What else have they done? What did they use these Manhunters for?"

"I only had time to ask about a handful." Lex said and his eyes hardened.

The display changed to a charred and blasted landscape with stunted, twisted growths on the ground. A figure in a cowled robe with some sort of antennae protruding from the darkness of the hood. "Durlans," Lex said, "They were part of the invasion force that attacked us several years ago. Master shape-shifters who possess a unique sense that allows them to perfectly comprehend and memorize the structure of any material or being that they encounter. Their very existence posed a threat to the Oan monopoly on the Green Power. Durlan technology would have eventually been able to duplicate it even without completely understanding it. The Guardians sent Manhunters to infiltrate their society and heighten tensions. A society of peaceful philosophers turned over the course of centuries into a factionalized mess of religious fanatics who ended up nuking themselves back to the stone age. They've been reduced to paranoid, xenophobic shadows of what they could have been."

Lex gestured and the scene changed to an empty city scene. Completely abandoned save for a humanoid figure with a bulky, muscular build and chalk white skin. The hair on it's head was black and greasy, but stood up in random spikes. "Czarnians. A species that was for the most part peaceful, orderly and law-abiding. Physically they were imposing. Tremendously strong, tough and able to heal fatal injuries with little difficulty, they would have made a terrible warrior race, but they were too busy being kind to one another. Unfortunately for them, they possessed a dangerous gift. Every drop of blood that a Czarnian spilled would create a complete duplicate of the injured Czarnian. Their planet was bursting at the seams from such duplicates. They were poised to launch themselves into space because they needed the room. The would not have come as conquerors, but as tenants and traders, but eventually, not even the entire universe would have been room enough to sustain the potential Czarnian population. The Manhunters were sent with their advanced knowledge of genetics and they created a plague of flying scorpion-like creatures that wiped out almost the entire race. The single survivor was driven mad by the disease and by loneliness and is now little more than an unkillable animal, rampaging throughout the cosmos. To add insult to injury, they convinced the survivor that he was the one responsible for the destruction of his species."

Mercy squinted. "You mean Lobo, right? That guy who'd fought big blue a few times?"

Lex nodded.

Eve made an inquiring noise. "He's an alien named 'wolf'?"

Lex replied. "It doesn't mean wolf. It's in a Khund dialect and means 'He who devours your entrails and enjoys it thoroughly'. Thoroughly repugnant fellow, but occasionally useful. Honest too."

The display changed to a blurry video of the Czarnian in question ripping into a dozen soldiers wielding a hook on the end of a chain, splattering gore and blood everywhere.

"This is the last survivor of the Czarnian race. We can lay this at the feet of the Oans and their Manhunters."

Lex tapped the control once more to reveal a lush wilderness. There was a humanoid figure in the scene, but there was something not entirely human about it, despite the superficial similarities. There was a defeated and listless air to the figure. "Rannians," Lex spoke. "Tremendously advanced technologically and scientifically. Very human. Once they were a vigorous people. Looking outward, seeking out the next horizon... and powerful enough scientifically that they could have cut themselves a massive stellar empire with little difficulty. The Manhunters infiltrated them and used subtlety, since their prey this time would've seen through a simple attempt to kill them. The robots turned their pride and their technology in on itself."

"How does that work?" Mercy asked, fascinated despite herself.

"While a handful of their population continued to be attentive and active, the rest of their society turned in on itself. They became indolent and apathetic. Their science made them as gods... what need did they have to strive? Technologies the Manhunters directed to make the Rannians completely dependent on them, had other side effects as well."

Eve frowned. "What kind?"

"Chromosomal damage. The entire race was rendered sterile and at this very moment is one generation away from extinction." Lex shook his head sadly. "If they could be convinced to take action, their knowledge and technology could easily conquer this challenge... if they could be bothered."

Lex tapped the control a third time. Now revealing on the display a barren dessert with a green sky. There was a figure, startlingly human dressed in a skin-tight black outfit that only left part of his face exposed. Over the outfit was a white mantle with broken gold trim in elaborate patterns down the side. "Kryptonians."

Mercy's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

Eve looked surprised. "You mean even Superman's people were-"

Lex nodded once, sharply cutting Eve off. "His race were ancient and could have kept up with the Oans technologies. Beneath yellow suns, individually they could have shattered planets. Had they been allowed to flourish, they would have created an empire that would've stretched across the entire universe. Implacable. Unbeatable. Terrible in their power." Lex's eyes were distant. "But it was not to be. Obviously something so terrible couldn't be unleashed upon an Oan controlled universe. Again the Manhunters were dispatched-"

"They're why the planet blew up?" Eve asked softly.

Lex shook his head, "No. Not directly. This was much earlier than that. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Kryptonian culture was in its fullest flower and ready to burst upon an unsuspecting universe... Kryptonians were mildly xenophobic to begin with. This would have made them conquerors of the worst sort. The subtle hand of the Oans and their Manhunter servants exacerbated their xenophobia to an absolute mortal terror of the rest of the universe at large. Their pride in their science turned into pure blind arrogance. The Manhunters worked their genetic magic on the Kryptonians, tying them biologically to their home planet, but even if they hadn't, the Kryptonians had already cut themselves off from the universe. They turned inward, trapping themselves on their own planet until their society decayed and fell into decadent stagnation. A dead, static culture. The very image of the Oan ideal and no threat whatsoever to them. In the end, fall out from their older wars killed the planet, but as a species, the Kryptonians had already been dead for millenia."

"How many planets did they meddle with?" Mercy asked in a low, disbelieving tone.

"Thousands. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands." Lex said slowly. "They have had billions of years to work at this." He tapped at the control once more and the display changed to a barren red landscape dotted with rocks beneath a rust colored sky. The humanoid figure that appeared was like a living creature of flame. "The Burning were tampered with most extensively. They were a race that could reproduce asexually and were completely hostile to all other life. Worse, they were terrifyingly powerful. They had complete mental control over every cell in their body, able to shape shift with as much skill as the Durlans, but on top of that, they were also telekinetic, telepathic and superhumanly strong, fast and resillient besides."

Eve shifted uncomfortably. "They sound dangerous."

"They were dangerous," Lex agreed. "They were terrifying. The Oans rebuilt the entire race. They were primitives who weren't likely to be able to pass on any information to anyone who mattered. The Guardians and their Manhunters tore the race apart and rebuilt it. From a single form, to two separate species and two distinct genders." He made another adjustment on the display and the single burning form split into one green and one white humanoid figure. "On top of that, they induced a racial terror of fire within their creations to keep them from ever reaching their full potential ever again. The Green and White Martian races. The split not only completely destroyed the Burning as a race, but the subsequent civil wars between the two factions eventually brought them to the edge of extinction. It wasn't until later that the race was wiped out by a telepathic plague derived from Manhunter work. Only a single survivor of the Green Martian race survived."

Eve looked thoughtful, "Lex... did you pick your examples out at random or were you looking for a pattern?"

Lex grinned and reached out to playfully ruffle Eve's hair. "I think someone's catching on."

Mercy looked mildly irritated. "What pattern? Didn't you pick your examples out because they all had something to do with Earth?"

Lex shook his head. "These were just the most obvious ones, but every single example Teddy Manhunter there gave me ties back to us in some way. Vuldarian, Tamarranian, Bolivax Vikian, Coluan... species wiped out save for a few survivors all of whom find their way here."

The image dissolved to Earth. "I know what we are now." Lex spoke. "I know what the Earth is. Our planet is a Guardian weapons depot. Didn't you ever find it odd how many last of their species find their way to our world? Or how many invasions and alien conquerors we have to fight off on a regular basis? Our world is a rich world, made even more so by having beings of supreme power guarding it. Do you realize how often most other planets gets invaded? Once a century, if then. We keep getting attacked and we keep fighting them off, yet they still keep coming. Doesn't that strike you as curious?"

Mercy frowned deeper. "That's stupid. If they're putting all this powerful crap here, then why aren't we usin-" She stopped short as she finally made the connection. "Oh, damn." She breathed.

"What?" Eve asked.

"A light dawns." Lex said lightly.

Mercy turned to Eve and replied. "That's why the Manhunters are keeping the human race stupid. Keep us from asking questions or upsetting the status quo... Their status quo."

Lex nodded and playfully ruffled Mercy's hair, which earned him a heated glare from the redhead. "Keep us stupid and complacent. Keep us fat and happy and we don't realize the wonders they keep placing into our hands."

Eve put a hand on his arm. "What are you going to do now, Lex?"

"Do? Why my dear Eve... I'm going to fight back," Lex replied, eyes glittering, "I'm going to storm heaven and steal fire from the Gods. Green fire. I swore that I would see them broken at my feet and so they shall be."

Lex finally shook himself to focus back on the women. He tapped his PDA a few more times and the holo display shut itself off. "I've got some ideas I need to work on, order me some more pizza. I'm going to pull an al-"

Eve's light touch on his arm suddenly turned into a grip. "You are still sporting broken ribs, Lex. You're going back into bed and you're going to get some rest. They've been holding things over us for a very long time, one more day won't make a difference."

Mercy smirked, but did not say anything. Lex looked like he was about to say something, but found himself silenced by Eve's glare.

"Now, I'm taking you to bed." Eve said as she led Lex back. She caught sight of Lex's smirk then colored prettily. "Not even remotely what I meant!"

Mercy sidled up to Lex's other side and grabbed his other arm. "He's still feeling that coffee and isn't going to sleep for a while. We're going to have to hold him down in bed to make sure he stays in there.

Eve quirked an eyebrow at the redhead, who kept a delightfully straight expression.


	14. Chapter 14

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 14**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

"Proceed."

"Are you certain, Luthor? I mean, it's not like you to trust anyone else and certainly not with-"

"I don't have a choice. It's the only way I can make this work."

"This is more complicated than you make it sound."

"If it were easy, I would do it myself."

"The trigger?"

"Exactly as we discussed."

"And if I choose to double cross you?"

"I am maintaining constant monitoring throughout the procedure. The moment I notice anything even remotely suspicious, Mercy turns you into charcoal briquettes."

"I've already seen signs of older tampering in here, Luthor."

"I know. Just do what I asked you to."

"As you wish. Now hold still... this may sting."

O-O-O-O

Kyle was brushing his teeth in preparation for bed when his ring suddenly gave a loud chime. He sputtered in surprise, spraying foam all over his bathroom mirror.

He hurriedly put his toothbrush down, trying to spit and wipe his mouth at the same time when the genderless, inflectionless voice came from his glowing green ring. "All officers in the vicinity of Sector 2814, Code 060606 in progress. Destination provided. Repeat Code 060606"

Kyle's expression in the mirror was worried. It wasn't someone specific asking for help. That was the ring's voice, so that made it likely that the ring itself had picked up on the... 060606? What was that? He mused as he willed his costume to appear. The cool green glow spread from his ring to cover his body. The towel he'd been wearing vanished and the remaining flecks of toothpaste around his mouth wicked away by the energy as his skin-tight uniform manifested on him.

"Ring display location of 060606 in progress," He said firmly. While he could have simply willed it to show him, it made him more comfortable to actually address the ring when it was talking like this. He fed a trickle of will into it and a glowing green display appeared over his head, showing first the entire sector, before zooming in on the solar system. Then on Earth. Then towards the continental US, before the image settled with a large cross-hairs over an area on the west coast. California. He frowned, zooming the image in tighter, another burst of will cross-referenced the topographical image it was zooming in on against an Earth based map database and it gave him the exact location. The remains of Coast City. Whatever was happening was happening there.

He rose into the air, streamlining his body as he shot out his bathroom window and into the sky. He flew angled upwards, willing the ring to get him there as quickly as possible. That meant a high ballistic trajectory that would take him just outside the atmosphere before he angled back down, using gravity to help speed him to his destination.

He'd just remembered what an 060606 was. That was the code for "Intent to destroy or bring harm to the universe."

As he rose, another man in a green and black uniform joined him, dropping down lower, before matching his speed and angle. His boots seemed larger than absolutely necessary and the closed coat of his uniform bulked him up considerably. The man had red hair, a cocky expression and flew with his white-gloved fist extended out. The extended fist that had his glowing green ring. His green aura flared and sparked around him, in contrast to the smooth almost quavery aura that surrounded Kyle.

"Hey!" The red-headed man shouted.

Kyle nodded to his partner. Technically they'd both been recently reassigned by the Guardians to duty on Oa. Technically it was a promotion, as the Green Lantern Corps Honor Guard was made up of their best. Beings who had no specifically assigned sector, but were essentially roving trouble shooters. The orders had come in only a few days ago and both he and Guy had been in the process of getting ready to relocate. The Corps had been gone for years and for a while it had only been Kyle fighting the good fight as the last Green Lantern, but events had brought it all back.

Everything. Even Hal, the man who had destroyed the Corps in the first place had turned out to have only been possessed by... something. Kyle wasn't too clear on the details, but where he'd been a lone hero once, the last of his kind, now he was part of the Corps. And Guy Gardener, attitude, temper and all, was the man they'd selected to work with him.

A lot of the time Kyle suspected that the reason he and Guy were getting reassigned to Oa was because there were already way too many humans in the Corps. Most species were lucky to have one of their number selected to join the Corps in a century. Earth had four humans selected in under twenty years. And two more humans who used a Green Lantern-like power, but weren't technically in the corps.

Maybe we're just lucky. Kyle thought to himself. And lucky's going to have me moving to the center of the universe as a result. He shook his head to clear it, then turned to Guy and asked, "Hey, Guy. You have any idea what's going on?" Their rings' communications functions worked transparently. It simply appeared as though they were speaking to each other directly, but the roar of the wind would have made normal speech impossible.

The other man shook his head. "No clue. Last time I heard that code was-" His face twisted up in concentration for a moment, which quickly turned to concern. He cursed. "The Crisis."

"Which one?" Kyle asked.

"The big one back in '86." Guy replied, looking even more worried. "That was around when I got my ring. Way before your time, kid."

Kyle shared his frown, although it was hidden behind his mask. Guy never wore one. He was one of those heroes who'd eschewed the idea of a secret identity. He wanted everyone to know who he was and he wanted them wetting their pants as a result. That was just the kind of guy he was. "I think Wally told me about some of that. That's when we lost the second Flash, right?"

"Him and a whole bunch of other people. It was bad." Guy muttered. "Real bad. We had everyone in on that fight, heroes and villains from all over the place."

"Bad as Parallax trying to rewrite time?" Kyle asked.

Guy nodded. "Maybe a bit worse. Least you coulda kinda talked to Hal."

Kyle looked grim and thoughtful as they reached the top of their arc and began the downward portion of their flight. He tried to set his ring to scan ahead, perhaps give them some indication of what they might encounter, but every probe to the immediate vicinity of Coast City simply fizzled out without providing him with any information.

Guy glanced over, noticing what he was doing. "So... nothing?"

Kyle simply shook his head.

Guy shrugged and gave him a thumb-up. "We'll be fine. If this was really a big deal, I'm sure someone else woulda gotten some sort of alarm or something and we won't be the only ones heading there."

Kyle was about to answer when two more green streaks zipped closer to them, matching their velocity and heading. Two more men in green, white and black uniforms flew near them. One a brown haired man in a skin-tight outfit and a mask, his aura flared brilliantly. The other, a black-haired man with close-cropped hair and a mostly black uniform flew without a mask and precisely delimited green glow that extended exactly an inch from his body in every direction.

"John! Hal!" Kyle called out to them. "You guys got called in too?"

John Stewart, the man without the mask, nodded. "Code 060606. We were taking care of something in low earth orbit when the call came in."

Guy called back in good-natured mocking, "Nah, we got it. You guys go grab a coffee or something."

Hal smiled a little, but shook his head. "This sounds big, Guy. We'd be awfully embarrassed if you guys got all the glory on this one."

Kyle glanced at Hal thoughtfully. He knew the man still felt like he had a lot to answer for. Every mission was another chance to find redemption, he mused. John was another story. He'd been crippled in the chaos left in the wake of Hal's rampage and had only recently gotten back use of his legs and a Green Lantern ring. He was just happy to be back in action, regardless. Kyle quipped at Guy, "Well, we got two more guys called in. Do you think this is big deal yet?"

Guy laughed. "You kidding? Whoever it is down there was already in enough trouble cause they had two Green Lanterns swooping in on them from orbit. Now we've got four." He grinned savagely, "Even if it's just you two added to the mess. They're fricking toast."

They swooped down towards the crater where Coast City had once been. Even after all this time, the wreckage of the city still existed at its edges, but most of it was suffused with greenery. The whole was a veritable garden created by the Swamp Thing as a memorial to Hal when they'd believed he'd given his life. In the center of that garden, there was a cleared area where an eternal flame burned. Kyle had created it during his stint as the solo Lantern and it served as a monument to the seven million who had died when the city had been destroyed and to Hal Jordan who had once given up his life to reignite the sun.

All that was changing again. Hal was alive once more and there were some tentative... very tentative... construction projects being undertaken just north of the crater which were supposed to become a new Coast City. Kyle heard that survivors and previous residents had started looking into moving back into the area.

The area, Kyle noted with worry and mounting frustration that continued to defy his attempts to probe. They were already almost at the edge of the area that was turning aside his scanning attempts and was tempted to have his fellow Lanterns stop, but he couldn't really see anything strange about the area they were about to fly into.

The ring provided the image that the source of the Code 060606 was the eternal flame itself. Kyle had a moment of worry, wondering if something in his creation was causing the problem. As they closed in he felt something like a sudden sharp change in air pressure. Almost like he'd gone through a grocery store air curtain and he thought he saw a slight ripple in the air as they passed.

John also picked up on it. He'd stopped in mid-air, signaling to the other three to halt as well. "Did you guys feel that?"

Hal, who Kyle noticed had been too focused on their destination, "I'm not sure."

Kyle nodded and glanced over to Guy. "Did you?"

"Yeah... felt funny like a..." Guy glanced over his shoulder at where the invisible boundary had been and extended a beam from his ring. It stopped suddenly and the air distorted and rippled around the beam, like water thrown into a pond. "Dammit. Force field."

John floated back to where the beam had stopped and reached a hand out. He encountered what felt like solid air beneath his fingertips. "Trap." He sighed. "We walked right into it."

Hal raised a hand above his head and flared the emerald energy. It lit up a hemispherical dome several hundred yards in diameter centered on the Coast City Monument. "All the way around. It's letting visible light through, but... I can't get a scan out past it."

Kyle agreed, "Me neither. Looks like it goes into the ground too."

Hal shook his head ruefully. "Like a bunch of amateurs."

John said, "Well, we are a little out of practice."

Guy jerked a thumb at Kyle, "What's your excuse, kid?"

Kyle shrugged defensively, "Hey, I was trying to slow down to check this out, but you guys were in a hurry."

John raised a hand. "Let's focus on the problem here. Our scans are working in here now, is anyone picking anything up that might be the Code 060606?"

Hal spun and pointed to the base of the Coast City monument."There's someone there. One human life sign."

Guy didn't even hesitate. He charged downward at the human figure. Kyle moved in to back up his partner's move. Hal and John followed a fraction of a second later.

Guy gave a battle cry and sent a battering ram of green energy crashing towards the figure. The cylinder of energy seemed to splash off the figure's open hand, none of them could get a good look at the individual, obscured by the dust and shards of energy that Guy was throwing up. Even seeing his first attack deflected almost negligently, he charged in, ramming into the figure with his own body, intending to tackle him and bear him down to the ground for a pounding.

That was the plan anyway, but the moment Guy made contact, he was suddenly thrown backwards. He hurtled past his startled fellow Lanterns, spinning wildly. Hal manifested a giant catcher's mitt of green light and caught him before he got much further. Kyle confirmed to himself that Guy was unhurt, but for his pride.

A gust of wind cleared to reveal... a bald man in a suit. He frowned and the Lanterns approached a bit more cautiously. As the dust settled out of the air, the man's features became clearer. It was Lex Luthor, wearing a black, expensively tailored suit. He had a bright green tie and was smirking at them.

"Gentlemen. Welcome to Coast City." He gestured with his one hand, the other held behind his back. He seemed unarmed to Kyle, but he'd somehow managed to not just repel Guy's attacks, but he'd hurled the man back. Kyle noted some sort of machinery with wires leading up to the emerald hued eternal flame. Kyle wasn't certain but it almost looked like he was doing something with the green energy that fueled the flame.

Hal floated lower. He'd had the most experience in the field and Kyle was more than happy to let him take the lead. Guy didn't look like he was in much of a mood to talk and John was speaking to him in a low voice trying to calm him down.

"Luthor." Hal said coolly. "What's going on?"

He grinned smugly at them. "Don't worry about the 060606. I was just trying to get your attention."

"What possible reason could you have for trying to get us here?" Hal asked, his ring beginning to flare brightly.

"Honestly?" Lex asked with sudden and disarming sincerity. "A code 31423."

Kyle worked it out in his head. 31423 was an "Intent to destabilize universal forces". If unattended it could lead to a 060606, so what exactly had the ring picked up? Or had Lex somehow- Kyle glanced back to the mechanism with the wires leading into the green flame. He must have used that to send us the message. Kyle realized quickly. I have no clue what that is, but if it can send a message through our rings, what else can it do?

"How do you know tha-" Hal started to ask. Kyle was at the point of interrupting him with a warning when Lex whipped his other hand out from behind him.

He was holding... a teddy bear.

In fact, he was holding up what appeared to be a Storytime Teddy, albeit one in an altered outfit. Kyle had once dated a woman who'd had one. Normally the Storytime Teddy was dressed in a bright red t-shirt and bear-sized blue jeans. This one seemed to be wearing a red jumpsuit and had blue trunks, gloves and boots. The tiny jumpsuit even had a hood. It looked... like a terribly cute teddy bear depiction of a Manhunter.

"No one move. I have a bear." Lex declared forcefully, but Kyle could tell he was having trouble keeping himself from laughing.

His announcement was met with dead silence by the Green Lanterns. Guy was about to laugh, when the bear's chest suddenly unfolded like a fuzzy bit of origami to reveal a glowing green hemisphere surrounded by electronics.

Guy floated closer and mocked him, "I think you've been fighting Supes just a little too long Lexy. He's the only one vulnerable to Kryptonite, this is just a light show for us."

Lex grinned. "You haven't seen the light show yet."

The bear incongruously said in a singsong voice. "No man escapes the Manhunters!" Whatever it was in the stuffed toy's chest flared and arcs of energy shot out of the Green Lantern's rings.

Lex released the bear which had begun glowing green and it hung in the air, suspended on the streamers of power coming from their rings. Kyle could feel the loss of power and just to confirm for him the ring's genderless voice began counting down it's available power. "Fifty three percent power remaining."

He could see his companions all struggling against the power drain in their own ways. Kyle kept his full concentration on just trying to pull the power back into the ring, but the drain was relentless. He could see the more experienced Lanterns attempting to split off additional beams to attack Luthor or the bear.

Hal created a giant fist to smack the bear down, but the construct was immediately sucked into the bear's chest, shredded into ribbons of light before it could even make contact. John had attempted to blast both Lex and the bear, but anything coming too close to the bear just kept being shredded, while anything attempting to strike Lex splashed off that invisible field around him. Guy tried another charge, but the closer he got to the bear, the faster the drain. He fell down just a few yards short of the floating bear.

He gave a surprised cry as he struck the ground, his ring declaring almost sadly, "Ring depleted." Lex took a few steps forward, not getting in the way of the energy arcs between the bear and the rings, but bringing him close enough to Guy. Guy was still stunned by the fall and wasn't in any shape to react when Lex gave him a sharp kick to the jaw. Not enough to knock him out, but it snapped his head back, flipping him onto his back.

Almost languidly, Lex put a foot onto Guy's chest and pulled a pistol out from under his coat. Kyle noted idly that it was some sort of huge hand cannon, a .45 or something like it. The fact that it was a regular gun seemed almost incongruous given whatever else Lex had been using.

Lex leveled the gun at Guy's head and called out to the rest of them. "Stop resisting the drain or Gardener..." He trailed off, giving his pistol a meaningful waggle.

Kyle, Hal and John traded glances. There wasn't much left to resist, though. All their rings were in the single digits already from the drain. All three relaxed, letting themselves drift down to the ground as their rings counted down to "Ring depleted."

Lex stepped back, gesturing with his gun at Gardener to join his companions. Guy got up cautiously, staggering back to his fellow Lanterns. His jaw was already starting to swell.

Lex glanced over at the bear whose green glow had been steadily intensifying during the drain. "Energy available." It sing-songed. The voice was seriously creeping Kyle out. "Executing repairs."

A human-sized aura manifested around the bear in the form of a Manhunter. It was all in green, but the design was unmistakable. Kyle noticed through the translucent Manhunter form that the bear seemed to be creating changes to itself. From the tiny pads that ended it's arms and legs, tiny plush fingers and toes had begun to unfold.

Lex snapped. "Override!" He then rattled off something that Kyle didn't understand. It sounded... Oan? He couldn't be sure of course. With the ring drained, the auto-translate functions weren't working either. He supposed he should have been glad that Luthor had not completely drained the ring, otherwise he'd be in the middle of the remains of Coast City under the power of a mad scientist wearing nothing but a towel.

The aura guttered out and Teddy's chest opening irised shut. He kept the tiny fingers which wiggled and flexed as Lex snatched him out of the air. "Nice try."

"Curse you, Luthor." The bear sang out in its sing-song tone.

John stared incredulously. "You have a teddy bear Manhunter?"

Lex shrugged, then put the teddy bear on his shoulder where it clung. It had, as best as Kyle could tell from it's plushy features and black button eyes, a sour expression. "I have many things. Now, I need to speak with you gentlemen. Can someone please make sure to keep Gardener muzzled back there?"

Guy looked like he was about to charge Luthor once more, but Kyle put a hand on his shoulder and held him back. The younger man whispered. "Lets find out what he actually wants first."

Hal took a step closer to Luthor, who responded by aiming his pistol at the man. "I think that's close enough, Jordan."

"You know who I am?" Hal looked surprised.

Luthor gave Hal an expression which Kyle read as, 'Are you really this stupid?' "You are an Air Force Test pilot. Your identity and history are a matter of public record. You used to be seen hanging out with two Green Lanterns who have public identities. Your personal history matches the second Green Lantern quite closely. It was quite elementary if you think about it. And even if I hadn't bothered with the research, your reaction pretty much told me everything I needed to know."

Kyle twitched nervously as Lex seemed to focus on him. "Yes, I know who you are as well, Mr. Rayner. You used to keep your identity better hidden when you had that other mask, but once you switched to the little domino mask like Mr. Jordan's, facial recognition software picked you out with little difficulty." Lex waggled the gun idly as he spoke, "That and if you're going to date a woman with bright green skin, you could afford to be a little more discreet. My researcher had you picked out even before she ran across your TV appearance."

John looked frustrated but was doing his best to keep his temper bottled in. He wasn't quite as volatile as Guy, but he had his limits. "What do you want, Luthor?"

Luthor raised the gun, no longer aiming it at them. He spoke softly. "I want many things. Most of all, I want to be free. I want to be whole. I want to get back at those who did this to us."

The men looked confused at this, but kept quiet. "Also, I want you-" he reached into his coat and pulled something out, then tossed it towards Kyle. "To sign this. That researcher I was telling you about who figured out who you are? Turns out she's a fan." He was holding the graphic novel compilation of Kyle's comic strip from the magazine. "She'd love an autograph."

Lex wrinkled his nose. "It's not really my cup of tea, but she likes it."

Without quite meaning to, Kyle grinned. "That's cool, sure I'd be glad to-" then he stopped as he realized the other three were staring at him. "Um... maybe now isn't exactly the best time."

Lex barked a sharp laugh. "Maybe not." Lex tapped his belt and a shimmer in the air surrounded him then faded. He tossed the gun to one side, letting it crash onto the grass covered ground as he held out his open palms to the men.

"My force field is now off. I am unarmed. My only insurance at the moment is Teddy who can probably release his pilfered green energy in the form of an explosive blast that will no doubt kill all of us." He paused for emphasis. "Being at the epicenter, I would be the first to die. I want to give you gentlemen some information," Lex continued seriously. "Then I am going to give you the means to verify my information. At which point I will tell you of my plans and how following them would benefit you and this entire planet."

More confusion passed among the Earth based Green Lanterns before Hal spoke up. "What information do you have that could possibly interest us, Luthor?"

"First of all," Lex gestured to the sullenly silent teddy bear on his shoulder. "I'd like you to meet what's left of what used to be Paul Westfield. Former Cadmus director. He used to run all Manhunter operations on Earth."

Hal blinked in surprise. "That really is a Manhunter."

The bear shook a tiny plush fist at Hal. "No man escapes the Manhunters!"

"And you put it in a Storytime Teddy." Kyle asked incredulously.

John narrowed his eyes. "Why is it obeying you?"

"I figured out most of his override codes." Lex said almost negligently. "There's a lot of material to cover, but I think I can sum it up."

"I'm still waiting for something interesting." Hal said, crossing his arms.

Lex grinned, "Short version: A few weeks ago, I destroyed a millennial-long Manhunter conspiracy to cripple the development of this planet. Right now, their masters haven't realized yet that there is a problem. This is a very small window of opportunity available to rid the universe of them."

"And these masters are?" John asked skeptically.

"The Guardians." Lex replied.

Guy gave a triumphant, "HA!" then added, "I knew we couldn't trust those blue midgets."

Hal frowned, "The Manhunters rebelled against the Guardians millions of years ago. You're either mistaken or lying."

Lex sneered. "And who told you that bit of information, hmm?"

Guy shook a finger at Luthor. "Hey, as much as I don't trust them, I trust you a lot less. I'm surprised your eyes ain't brown, cause you're full of crap."

Kyle had a worried expression on his face. "I think we're going to need the long version for this."

Lex raised a finger and spoke in a pedantic tone, "I have access to dozens of individual Manhunter memory archives, but even if you do not trust that, there is with you at this very moment proof that the so-called Manhunter's rebellion was at the Guardians' command. Proof that the first grand slaughter they performed was ordered by the Guardians."

John's mouth was a hard line. "That's a very tall accusation. So what is this proof you're talking about?"

Luthor pointed at Hal Jordan's hand. "Your ring. It's the same one that was given to you by Abin Sur of Ungara, correct?"

Hal closed his fist and glanced down at the ring, "It's been replaced and destroyed and reformed several times. This isn't the sa-"

Kyle shook his head, "No. That's pretty much the same one. This last ring you got was a duplicate from a time traveling version of your first ring."

Luthor nodded, "In essence, the same ring. And it should still have the molecular memories from it's time with Abin Sur."

Guy looked even more annoyed, "What does that have to do-"

"You're talking about Abin Sur's time with the Five Inversions." Hal said softly, having realized what Luthor was driving at.

Kyle looked lost. "The what-who now?"

John spoke, "The Five Inversions were the only survivors of the slaughter of Sector 666."

Lex nodded. "Five survivors out of trillions of sentients. They only survived because they had been functionally immortal. Now here's the part I find interesting," He continued, starting to pace. "The Guardians, decided to have these poor wretches crucified and left alone on Ysmault, which they then forbade any Green Lantern from visiting. Didn't that strike anyone as a little suspicious?"

Guy said, "So what if they were there?"

"The Guardians had a perfectly good prison back on Oa. What were they called? Sciencells? In any case, why not keep them there? I mean... besides making sure that they didn't speak to any of the Green Lanterns."

Hal snapped, "You're leaving out the part where they unleashed a reign of terror across three galaxies to create their Empire of Tears."

Lex smiled indulgently. "Five individuals. Across three galaxies. Awfully cooperative of them to set themselves up as a force to hurl the newly formed Green Lantern Corps at. Makes for a good story too, doesn't it? The survivors of a sector-wide tragedy, driven mad with grief creating an empire whose stated goal is to destroy the Guardians. Didn't anyone think it was strange that the Guardians were the focus of their rage and not the Manhunters?"

"Because they saw us." Teddy sing-songed.

Hal and John exchanged surprised glances. Guy raised an eyebrow as Kyle asked, "How does this go back to Abin Sur?"

"Abin Sur defied the Guardians' prohibition and visited Ysmault. First without meaning to, but more often as he ended up speaking to the Five Inversions and learning from them. Their millenia of crucifixion had driven them all mad, but Abin Sur was able to break through to them long enough to get the whole story." Lex replied. "The Five Inversions were exactly what the Guardians did not want. Witnesses. They could not be killed, so the Guardians did their best to keep them contained and unable to tell their story."

"Until Abin Sur." Hal said flatly. Kyle could tell the others were becoming interested despite themselves. Even Guy. Even if this were all just an elaborate lie, it still made for a fascinating story.

"Supposedly, the Five Inversions gave Abin Sur a prophecy of the Darkest Night. The events leading up to the destruction of the Green Lantern Corps." John said. "I got a glimpse of it in the Book of Oa, but it's not something they let out."

"Not surprising," Lex agreed. "But it's not accurate by any means. What they gave him was an eyewitness account of the massacre. Didn't anyone wonder why Abin Sur was flying a ship when he crashed on Earth, rather than using his ring? "

Again the Green Lanterns of Earth exchanged thoughtful, surprised looks. Hal responded. "I was told he received the prophecy that he would die when his ring failed him at a critical moment, which is why he tended to use a ship for long distance travel."

Lex snorted, "That's an awfully generic prophecy. Also rather conveniently likely to come true when you use a will power based weapon. Every moment he uses his ring he'd be wondering if this would be the moment when his ring fails. Constantly undermining his self-confidence and will. No, it should be obvious why he would start using the ship, given what he had learned on Ysmault." Lex paused for dramatic effect. "He stopped trusting the ring. The ring was a tool of the Guardians."

John made a cutting gesture with one hand, "I'm hearing a lot of stories Luthor, but nothing that sounds like proof so far. How do you even know this?"

"Manhunter memories are surprisingly well detailed and go back for a very long time." Lex replied offhandedly. "As for the proof... Abin Sur was coming to Earth because he was expecting to find something here to help him fight back against the Guardians."

"What? Here?" Guy scoffed.

"This planet is a Guardian weapons depot." Lex replied slyly. "Why else have so many of their soldiers and so much of their attention be taken up by a single, insignificant little blue world in the middle of nowhere? Keeping this cache of weapons safe was his old job." Lex jerked a thumb at the teddy bear still balanced on his shoulder.

John asked, "If he was coming here for weapons, what happened?"

Teddy piped up. "We did, human."

The Lanterns stared at the bear as it continued to speak. "Others of our number had been posted to Ysmault as guards and we watched as he took a telepathically dictated eyewitness account of the Massacre of Sector 666. When we passed this information to the Masters, they told us that Abin Sur's usefulness had come to an end."

"Your Masters," Kyle asked, "The Guardians?"

The bear nodded and continued. "We attacked but he resisted long enough to flee. Our fellow Manhunters chased him to this world. He thought he could land here and be in a position to ambush his pursuers. He did not realize that we already had a sizable presence on this world. We shot him out of the sky and saturated the area with golden radiation to prevent his ring from saving him."

Hal strode forward before Lex could react and snatched teddy from his shoulder. "You killed Abin Sur?"

"I can still blow up, you know." Teddy said, waggling plush eyebrows at Hal. "We did not, in fact succeed. When he had crashed he would still have had enough consciousness and power within his ring that he could have saved his life."

"That's not true. I saw him. He was almost dea-"

"Incorrect, Hal Jordan." Teddy responded with just a hint of smugness. Or as much smugness as one could project when one was about a foot tall, plushy and being held in the fist of a very angry Green Lantern. "He could have saved himself. He could have fled the area and gotten medical attention, but we speculated at the time that he felt his primary duty was to hide the information he had and make sure it would be available for later use."

"He summoned you." Lex continued, "But he also encoded the record in a form that the Manhunters would not be able to find and sent it off with someone they would not suspect."

"Me?" Hal looked skeptical as Lex nodded. "That doesn't make any sense. If it is with me how-"

"Your ring. He couldn't make the record directly into the ring's memory, since it would become accessible to the Guardians and they could easily remove it then. The Manhunters, in the guise of the CIA actually saw him doing it, but didn't realize what he was doing at the time." Lex gestured grandly, "On the other hand, I have a brilliant and suspicious mind, as well as access to a telescopic, microscopic visualizer and access to Ungaran audio/video codecs."

"What are you talking about?" Guy demanded.

Kyle, however was the first to realize what he meant. "He encoded the message like a video stream then scratched it onto the ring's surface?"

Lex pointed at him and declared, "You may go to the head of the class! He couldn't record the message onto ring memory, but he could etch molecular-sized grooves onto the ring's inner surface allowing him to keep the record out of Manhunter and Guardian hands. It's like writing a coded message on the spool of a cassette tape rather than onto the tape itself."

John cut him off, "Enough dramatic build up. I'm assuming you can read the recording?"

Lex casually walked back to the mechanism near the eternal flame and pulled out a microscope camera which was attached to a small LCD monitor, the whole thing held together by a rubber band..He tossed towards John who only barely managed to catch it. "You clearly don't believe me. Look for yourself."

John eyed him suspiciously and unwound the camera cable from the screen. He nodded to Hal who slipped his ring off and held it out to John. Once he'd set things up, they all crowded around the screen as he ran the lens against the inner surface of the ring. They could see a grid-work of faint, shallow grooves in the surface of the metal.

"Just scratches, right?" Kyle asked.

Guy shook his head, "Nope. Only thing hard enough to affect the ring would be... well... the ring."

"He scratched this into the ring and I never knew it was there." Hal looked slightly shaken.

Lex took Teddy back, settled it on his shoulder. Then he hit it sharply on the nose. "Give them a trickle, Teddy."

"Curse you, Luthor." It singsonged, but green flashed in it's eyes and a small glow burned once more in the Green Lantern rings.

"Go ahead," Luthor said to them. "Use your rings. I'm jamming their connection back to Oa so they won't be able to look in on what you're doing. Do it. Watch what the Five Inversions showed to Abin Sur."

Guy immediately extended his hand and a glowing green fist closed around Luthor's body, holding him in place. Lex winced, but he didn't seem at all surprised.

Hal took his ring back and closed his fist. Kyle could tell he was focusing his concentration and a green monitor appeared over their heads. The image flickered on the monitor. It showed a pile of rocks. The image was clearly from someone's point of view. The view shifted and turned. The rocks resolved into a broken wall. Whoever was watching was hiding. The movement allowed whomever it was to see what lay beyond the rocks.

Manhunters. A dozen, moving together in close formation. They were all armed with energy rifles. The audio cut in with screams. The Manhunters were firing on people... gray skinned humanoids with scaled skin and heavily ridged heads. They screamed as they were cut down. There was harsh, heavy breathing serving as background.

As the Manhunters marched, they chanted as one. "No one escapes the Manhunters."

Teddy oddly enough seemed to be amused. "Good times, good times." It sing-songed, but it shut up when Lex glared at it.

The viewpoint on screen shifted once more and it looked past the Manhunters. Behind them stood a small humanoid figure with an oversized head. It wore red robes and had blue skin. The figure's hair was white and it's features were wizened. It gestured and spoke. The words were automatically translated by their rings. "Complete your sweep of this area. That immortal life signature is near here. We require you to bring it to us that it may be put to good use."

The image fuzzed and faded to black, shifting to another view now. The individual watching was obviously strapped down and above it, Manhunters stood. Impassive black faces looming within their field of view. Kyle suppressed an involuntary shudder as he remembered being caught up in a similar situation.

A Guardian entered the field of view. This was another Guardian, not the same as the one commanding the Manhunters. He had in his hand some sort of surgical instrument and he leaned over the being. "Greetings, sentient." It spoke. "It is with some regret that I must inform you that you are now the last of your kind."

"You killed them all!" The unknown being screamed.

"It was necessary," The Guardian replied, "For the greater good. What I do now..." He raised the surgical instrument which gleamed and looked far too sharp. "Is likewise a necessity. Know that your sacrifice will bring order and peace to the universe."

In the periphery of the being's vision were more Guardians. Like an arena, Kyle thought. Or an operating theater. The Guardian stepped out of the field of view and the screams from the being's throat rose.

A stunned silence pervaded the area around the Green Lanterns.

Lex spoke easily to them, despite still being trapped within the green fist. "I don't think you set it up to get all the encoded information. It was a telepathic broadcast, so if you look closely, there's a separate layer to the recording which includes emotional nuance."

Guy squeezed harder. "It's some sort of trick!"

Lex grit his teeth, trying hard not to cry out. Before Guy had gotten too far, Kyle had grabbed Guy's wrist. "How? Hal's the one reading the information off his own ring. You said it yourself that the only thing that can mark a GL ring is its own power, or another ring and if Lex had access to one, I'd think he'd've found a better use for it than this!"

Guy almost resisted easing up, but then John faced him. "Let Luthor go. Manhunter database or not, Lex can't use a ring even if he had one."

Kyle turned to Hal who had allowed the monitor to dissipate. He whispered to them. "That looked familiar."

"What're you talking about, Jordan?" Guy asked.

"That sky and the operating theater," Hal continued in the same soft voice. "I recognized it. Right before I became Parallax... everyone assumes that when I got on Oa, I landed surrounded by Guardian corpses right before I stepped into the Central Power Battery to get its power. When I landed the Guardians were stepping through the Central Battery. I charged after them. I was so mad, I wasn't thinking straight. They ambushed me as soon as I got through. I... I remember waking up on that same table. When I woke up, I was Parallax and the Battery was gone."

Troubled, did not even begin to describe his expression.

"I'd always assumed I'd hallucinated that last part. I thought the Central Battery destroyed itself when I claimed its power. The more I think about it now... the more I realize that the Power Battery was destroyed deliberately. To ensure no one could follow them."

Guy asked slowly, "You're saying you believe this?"

Hal nodded. "It... it feels familiar."

Luthor continued to project smug satisfaction. "Come now, gentlemen. You've all been badly used by the Guardians at one point or another. Stewart is the victim of an experiment to create a human Guardian whom they abandoned once they were done. You didn't deserve that. The inhabitants of the Mosaic didn't deserve what happened to them either."

John looked puzzled, "What do you mean what happened to-?"

Luthor clicked his tongue. "Still can't remember? Can you remember what happened to your Guardian Powers? Does it make any sense that one moment you have abilities on par with the Oans and the next, you're on the other side of the Universe and completely powerless?"

Hal and John exchanged looks, both seemed uncertain now.

Guy squeezed the fist construct around Lex tighter, "Shut up. You're trying to confuse us."

"I am stating facts, Gardener." Lex replied harshly. "For example, you have always been marginalized and ignored by the Guardians, eventually leading you to seek out better weapons until you finally came in touch with your true heritage. A heritage I might add that the Guardian's end up suppressing, in favor of having you as a 'human'.

"I am human!" Guy growled.

"You are also Vuldarian!" Lex snapped. "Think about it. Your medical charts included notations that your Vuldarian DNA was trying to purge your human DNA... that's not how DNA works. Men as smart as Doctor Mid-nite and Mr. Terrific could not possibly made such a... a... simplistic error, unless they were encountering something that was so far out of their depth that they had to describe it in those ridiculous terms. Yet the moment you put a Green Lantern ring on, everything was fine. Does that make any sense?" Lex looked him in the eyes. "The only way it does is that if someone was actively causing your medical problems, then they stopped once you had the Green Lantern Ring on."

"Or the ring is strong enough to block out what caused it." Guy replied smugly, but even he seemed uncertain now, the construct began to waver around Lex.

Kyle was about to say something, but Lex cut him off. "And you... you I feel the most sorry for."

Kyle asked, "What are you talking about?"

"They picked you specifically because you would be easy to manipulate. Your psyche profile made you perfect for their purposes as the 'Last Green Lantern'. Responsible, strong-willed, but not too much. Capable, but completely uncertain of himself. The perfect sort to be manipulated into giving them back their power once given the opportunity."

"You're talking about the Ion powers, aren't you?"

"The same power that was once held by Parallax, yes." Lex said. "The same power you gave up to allow the Guardians to return." He grinned savagely at them, "Except that's not exactly what happened."

The uncertainty was on all their faces now.

"Those things on your fingers are tiny green leashes that your masters back on Oa can use to command you. I can free you. I can lead you to strike back at them and free the Universe from their tyranny. They seek only to expand their own personal view of cosmic Order and will ruthlessly destroy, use and exploit anyone or anything that gets in their way. You know this to be true. You've seen this to be true. You have merely been unaware of the extent of their actions. We matter as much to them as cockroaches matter to us." He spoke slowly. "They have only recently reformed. They no longer have access to what happens on Earth by my actions. They have given the appearance of being defeated and destroyed in the past, but we have never truly shaken off their shadow. We have a chance to do so now. If you help."

Hal drew himself up to his full height, then glanced over his fellow Lanterns. "What exactly do you want us to do, Luthor? We still don't trust you, but we'll at least hear you out."

Lex smiled brightly. "That's all I ask." He turned to the side and said with satisfaction. "Teddy, full drain if you please."

With a grumble, the stuffed bear leapt onto Guy's fist construct and irised open its chest once more. There was a noise like an indrawn breath and the construct vanished, freeing Luthor. The small spark their rings had displayed faded as arcs of energy shot from their rings and into Teddy's chest. Even as the glow faded completely from the rings, Teddy remained unrelenting, continuing to siphon off the emerald energy into itself.

Teddy's glow intensified and though the rings appeared to be completely drained, he continued to absorb energy from their rings. As he did those wearing the rings began to glow. The rings became dull, losing their metallic sheen, the color turning dark. That's when their screams began.

Tiny cracks began to appear on their rings' surface even as all four men seemed to explode with energy. Lex laughed wildly. "Wasn't entirely sure that was going to work, but I think-"

He cut off abruptly as Teddy suddenly spun away, cutting off the energy from the rings. Teddy floated and bobbed, obviously out of control. It's little plush stomach seemed distended and it spoke urgently in its sing-song voice. "I need to purge some of this energy, Luthor. I really will explode if I do not."

Lex knew what it wanted. It wanted to use the energy to rebuild it's body, but that could not be allowed. He pointed sharply at the eternal flame. "Dump it into that."

Teddy glared and floated off with poor grace. The eternal flame flared and washed everything in green light.

The four former Green Lanterns continued to glow. All of them had dropped to the ground, screaming in agony as the energies washed across their bodies. The energy pouring out of the former Green Lanterns had reached a point where Lex couldn't even look at them directly. He fished a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on.

Hal Jordan was the first to recover. Rising once more to his feet. He gave a wave of his hand and glow cut off around the other three.

Hal rose above the ground, allowing the inert ring to slip off his hand as his uniform remade itself, although still keeping the original green, black and white colors, it had shifted to something more like armor and sported a cape.

"What did you do, Luthor?" He asked, his voice tight with rage, but he held back.

"I took off your leash. I took off your muzzles." He grinned. "You had the power of the Central Battery. You had power that allowed you to manipulate space/time on a fundamental level. I know you aren't a scientific man, but surely you must have realized that it would've only taken a fraction of that power to destroy a Sun-Eater and reignite the sun. The only reason you sacrificed your life in the process was because of the Oans manipulation of you.

"They were dead at the time!" Hal snapped back.

"No they weren't. Your own memories prove it out. Try it now. Turn your own power in itself and look at what you really remember. They didn't die when you went on your rampage, Jordan. They escaped and made it look like you'd killed them. Then they continued to manipulate you from the shadows Doesn't it seem strange that this keeps happening to them? Their so-called servants, especially the ones known as 'great' all end up turning against them? The Manhunters, Sinestro, you?"

Hal looked disturbed. "You're telling the truth."

"Once a servant of theirs has outlived its usefulness, they make them turn so that they can be used as a lesson. Given the time spans involved, perhaps they don't really do it too often, but it happens more often than should be likely, given how obsessed they are with control."

"There is no Parallax..." Hal said with darning realization. "I wasn't the Specter. I was just..."

"They made you believe all that. They had gotten into your mind. This entire area is cut off from Guardian influence. You are now possessed of your original Parallax powers, but this time without Oan interference." Lex grinned once more. "How does it feel? Any desires to alter reality? Any murderous intentions?"

"No. No, I feel..."

"Right. I think is the word you are looking for. Whole. You have those parts of you again that the Guardians have been keeping locked away."

Lex swept his gaze towards the other men who had all gotten back to their feet, all of their outfits had been changed. "The same goes for the rest of you. You were all most useful to them as their servants. Wielding the powers that you have, made you all into threats to their order and to their plans for Earth."

Guy flexed his fingers. He'd blossomed in height, becoming over ten feet tall. His clothes had vanished except for a pair of black pants. Red and blue markings appears on his face and bare chest, but shifted and became green. "I'm Vuldarian again?"

"You were always Vuldarian," Lex replied sharply. "All the Guardians did was lock you into human form and had your ring feed false data to any attempt to scan you."

"Why?" Guy asked. "I mean I ain't like these guys," he gestured to his fellow Lanterns. "They got omnipotence and omniscience from being around the Green stuff, why're you callin' me powerful?"

Luthor rolled his eyes, "Because, you cretin, your average Vuldarian normally took minutes to manifest weaponry. They were powerful warriors, but not on par with say... a Kryptonian. You have held your own against Superman with those abilities on more than one occasion. You are a human-Vuldarian hybrid. The human aspect is very good at retaining the green energies, which is just another of the many reasons the Oans want to use us. Where your friends manifest their abilities outwards, you push them inwards. I wouldn't be surprised if you could create nearly anything you desired from your own body."

Guy still looked skeptical, but flexed his fingers thoughtfully.

He gestured to John. "And you... a human Guardian. A being that could match the Guardians and knows what they know. The only difference being that you have human desires. Human priorities."

"I didn't want these powers." Kyle said coolly.

"You didn't want the responsibility." Lex said, rounding on him. "The time for childish wishing and abdication of your responsibility is over. You really are this powerful. You have this much ability and you have a responsibility to use this power. Don't give it away. Don't give it up."

Hal looked surprised. "Funny, I would have expected you to talk Kyle into giving you his powers."

Lex turned back. "Read my mind, gentlemen. With your level of power, it should be child's play for you to do so. I don't want the power. I don't even want to have this job I have saddled myself with, but I am the best choice. I have a responsibility to Earth and to all humanity. If I realize this, and can step up, surely the rest of you can as well."

Guy crossed his arms across his chest as John, Hal and Kyle exchanged looks.

John's eyes were glowing green as he spoke. "He's telling the truth. And he does have a plan."

Hal's eyes flared green as well. "His story about the Guardians is true too. I just watched... I think I'm going to be sick."

Kyle nodded. "I just took a peek at Earth's recent past." He looked at Lex. "Luthor's been a busy boy, but everything matches up with what he's said.."

Guy reconfigured his fist into an oversized gun barrel and stuck it under Lex's chin. "I still don't trust you."

"You don't have to trust me. You just have to listen closely and do exactly as I say." Lex replied, "I want the same things you want. Justice. Vengeance for the wronged. Freedom for Earth."

He made a grand gesture. "You could strike out on your own and you could probably even cause them some damage, but the Guardians are prepared for dealing with omnipotence. They're used to dealing with events of cosmic significance and power. You would wield your power like the blunt instruments you imagine them to be and while you would hurt them, you would not be able to completely remove them. On the other hand, they aren't used to dealing with a single human intellect operating at its most deceitful."


	15. Chapter 15

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 15**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex stretched luxuriously on the very overstuffed couch. It was some cheap, tacky velor thing from a discount outlet. Not to his taste at all, but it was all you could expect when you ask to have a meeting at a SunDollar's.

A man of Luthor's station was unaccustomed to the attitudes of baristas and was even less impressed by the obscure jargon they couched small, medium and large in. One skinny man with a lower lip piercing and badly dyed hair tried to condescend towards Lex when he'd asked for a large frappuccino. Lex responded by snapping a photo of the man with his PDA and showing Mister Snooty Barista "Paul" how quickly Lex's facial recognition software was able to pull up his real name, his social security number and his home address, using the place's own WiFi connection to do it. Lex flashed him a cold grin. "For the hat trick, I can upload your information onto the National Sex Offender Registry. Imagine how your girlfriend..." Lex paused to tap a few more buttons to pull up the man's Facebook page. "Kristy with a 'K' will react when they find out what you did to those three-year-olds in Boston? Or your boss? Or your parents? Think they'd let you keep staying in their basement if they find out about this?"

Paul stood frozen behind the counter. Clutching at the register with white-knuckled hands. Lex leaned in closer and said in a kindly tone. "Learn some respect, alright? If I ever hear that you've pulled this kind of crap again, the police will find the body."

"What body?" Paul asked shakily.

"The one that's going to have your fingerprints and DNA all over it." Lex replied mildly. "Now be a good boy and get me my frapuccino, alright?"

He knew he shouldn't have been quite so hard on the man, but he'd been having a splendidly good day right up until the condescending little snort of a laugh the man had released when Lex asked for a large. It was small, medium and large, dammit. Lex would call it a Trentadue if he actually were in Italy and actually did want thirty two of something. The SunDollar's was an overpriced coffee shop chain from out of Seattle that Lex used to own majority stock in. Now it was owned by the man who had just stepped up to the counter.

He didn't think Bruce Wayne had seen him when he'd gone to get his own order. Lex noted that he was getting some sort of triple Espresso-shot mixed iced coffee that they called the Heartracer. The pale-faced Paul, who was still manning the counter accidentally caught Lex's eye for a terrified moment. Lex made a gun gesture with one hand aimed at him. His already pale face whitened further and he whirled around running for the back room.

A rather baffled looking Bruce glanced over his shoulder and Lex waved him over cheerfully. Both of the men were in immaculately tailored suits and seemed faintly out of place. They were both quite relaxed compared to the other business-suited men and women who'd dashed in and out of the coffee shop

"Hello, Lex." Bruce said with a nod. Lex could tell he was wary, uncertain. After the last time he didn't blame the man. But Lex had broken the Brucey code and knew exactly how to deal with this. He just had to make sure he tweaked the man just right.

"Bruce! Good to see you. You're looking well." Lex replied, rising to his feet to grasp Bruce's hand warmly. The other man was not expecting it, but seemed to be rolling with the punches well. Lex knew keeping him off-balance would only help for a little while. He needed the man on his side. Him and the assets at his command.

"Thank you, Lex. I wasn't expecting you to call out of the blue for coffee." Bruce glanced around, curiosity on his face. "Certainly not at a SunDollar's."

"Well, it was downstairs from your office," Lex replied off-offhandedly, implying by his tone that it could have been anywhere. As he spoke he gestured to the easy chair next to the couch and offered Bruce a seat. "I'd heard about these places when I used to own it. Well, now you own it... so, what do you think?"

"The staff seemed a little high-strung." Bruce said, glancing back at the counter where another barista had taken over for the now-vanished Paul.

Lex laughed lightly, "Working at coffee shop would do that to you I imagine."

Wayne had a tiny frown at that. Puzzled, but his face smoothed over into vapid friendliness quickly. Lex smiled inwardly, he was enjoying this little sparring match with Bruce... he was clearly trying to work out why Lex seemed so pleased without giving away that he was interested. "You seem a lot more relaxed."

"Compared to our last meeting, you mean?" Lex asked.

Bruce nodded, "Whatever you're doing seems to agree with you."

"I think so. I had a bit of time away, went to the islands." He gestured elaborately to his tan. "I've mostly been working on some personal projects." Lex leaned in closer and dropped his voice. "How has my little gift been working out for you?"

"The Lexcorp database?" Bruce asked, knowing that was exactly what Luthor meant. Lex could see the man trying to feel him out. What game was he playing? he no doubt asked himself. "Our engineers and scientists are having a lovely time taking it apart. Lucius says we could have marketable products derived from it inside of a year or so."

"Excellent. I hope you focused on the more humanitarian items?" Lex asked mildly.

Bruce shrugged, "We've focused development work on the combustion inhibitor for overseas use and the pharmaceuticals in general. We may even have FDA approval for a half dozen of your completed projects in the next month or two."

Lex smiled and nodded. "I'm happy to hear it."

"Incidentally," Bruce added as an offhand comment. "Miss Teschmacher impressed Lucius during the negotiations. He suggested I offer to pay her twice her current salary to get her to come over to Wayne Industries."

Lex laughed once more before he replied. "Eve has stock and is a member of the Board of Directors of LuthorCorp. I don't think you can meet her salary, much less double it." Lex winked smugly, then continued, waggling a finger in mock-warning at Bruce. "I know exactly how valuable that woman is and you can't have her."

Bruce smiled back. "I had to try."

"I'm working on something particularly big that I think you would want to be a part of." Lex said finally.

The other man perked up and Lex could tell from his posture that he was definitely interested. "What's this project, Lex?"

"First things first," Lex replied, holding a hand up. "I want to apologize for some of the things I said during our last meeting."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked with the seeming stupidity that Lex knew was affected.

"When I called you out for not operating at your full capacity." Lex said. "When I told you you were wasting your talents. That you'd been hiding from your self." He smiled apologetically and it was as sincere as he could hope to make it. "If I'd been in possession of all the facts at the time, I would never have said those things to you. For that, I am deeply sorry."

Bruce shifted uncomfortably, Lex could tell he'd knocked the man off balance once more. It was time to close in for the kill. "Lex, you have nothing to apologize for. You meant well, and your advice though blunt, was certainly sincere." He frowned. "What 'facts' are you referring to?"

Lex smiled, still sincere and friendly and warmly open. "It all proceeds from a single basic fact, actually. If one accepts that Bruce Wayne is not an idiot and is in fact almost as terrifyingly brilliant as I am..." Lex gave him an elaborate eyebrow waggle. "Then the rest follows quite neatly." Lex put his frappuccino down on the table and slipped his hands into his coat pockets, taking the moment to press the button on the cylindrical device in his pocket. A barely noticeable distortion in the air sprang up to surround the couch and the easy chair.

Lex noted the slight tensing in Bruce's hands as he noticed the distortion as well. He was pretending not to notice as he asked carefully, "What conclusion did you come to from that basic premise, then?"

"That the Batman of Gotham city exists because of Bruce Wayne," Lex said non-nonchalantly.

Bruce looked stunned for a long moment then suddenly burst into laughter. But Lex caught an edge of desperation in that laugh. A tiny hint of forced amusement. Lex knew he had him. The conclusions were spot on. Lex smiled mildly until Bruce calmed down.

Finally the other man's helpless laughter petered away and he wiped at the tears in his eyes. "Oh, Lex... I haven't had such a good laugh in ages."

Lex replied. "It's actually a fairly obvious conclusion when one does the math. As it so happens, Miss Teschmacher is an extremely talented forensic accountant. For the Batman to operate, it requires an outlay in the millions of dollars each year. That's just for Bat uniforms, weapons, basic wear and tear on grappling hook guns..." Lex shrugged. "The cars and planes and boats all bump those numbers up horrifically. There's also the training, there's almost certainly a base to operate out of. You can see how those numbers keep piling up. Tens of millions of dollars."

Bruce seemed to be trying to maintain a nonchallant air, but Lex could definitely see the mild tension across his arms. In his eyes. "Many people have a lot of money to throw around."

Lex waggled a finger pedantically. "Yes, but to throw away that much money in this very specific way is absolutely wasteful. Someone could argue that maybe they were getting back R&D testing results from the high-tech equipment Batman and his cohorts use, but that's a few hundred thousand a year at most."

Bruce leaned forward, steepling his fingers on his knees, "Then why would anyone do something like that?"

"A man would need to have an obsession. A powerful need that would drive him to sink millions for no visible return." Lex admitted, "I had at least that much in my 'destroy Superman' budget once upon a time. A billion dollars a year on average on plans that never bore useful fruit." Lex seemed to shrink into himself for a moment, embarrassment burning at his tanned cheeks. "If I'd sunk that money into more useful avenues of research, I'd probably be..." He rolled his eyes up and did a quick mental calculation. "A Nobel prize winner a half dozen times over."

Lex caught the note of unsolicited and unexpected sympathy in Bruce's eyes and waved a hand dismissively. "You have such a need Bruce. You're just as broken in the head as I was, except you got a chance to channel it to something constructive."

Wayne shrugged, seemingly casual, but Lex knew he'd hit the mark. ""What exactly are you saying, Lex?"

"I know you're financing the Batman." Lex said with a smirk. "Him and all the vigilantes operating out of Gotham. I even know who they all are. Once the connection to you came out the rest fell into place." Lex shrugged. "It's true. If you want to know what's going on, follow the money."

"That's ridiculous," Bruce scoffed, but Lex cut him off.

"Look, if I was able to connect the dots, I can assure you there are others who will be able to do so as well. The accounting irregularities alone would be enough for a full IRS audit and an FCC investigation." Lex smiled. He'd planned on presenting the carrot first, but Bruce prompted him to pull the stick out early.

Bruce leaned back in his seat, his face drawn and sullen. He seemed about to argue, but Lex noticed something like a light coming on behind the man's eyes. He'd realized something, Lex thought, but Lex couldn't decide what it was. "Lex, if I were doing such a thing, and I'm not saying I am, but your crazed ravings have made me curious. What's the point of letting me know that you know?"

"The point, Bruce, is first of all, I'm giving you warning to cover your tracks better. I can put you in touch with Martensen and Berthold. They used to hide my 'destroy Superman' budget for me. Quite possibly the most amoral accountants I've ever met, which is saying something. Second, the help you can give me on my 'big project' is in your capacity as money man to the superhero set."

Bruce forced another laugh. "Are you sure you're not getting me confused with Max Lord?"

It was Lex's turn to scoff, "Max is a puffed up martinet who enjoys pushing people around without actually having earned the right to do so."

Bruce smirked. "Takes one to know one?"

"You're trying to get me off topic," Lex said with another dismissive hand motion. "I told you, we followed the money far enough and closely enough. There's a hole in Wayne Industries finances big enough to drive a fleet of Batmobiles through, but there was still a discrepancy. Until we started checking the Justice League operating budget and found that while UN provides funds for about thirty percent of that, there's no obvious source for where the remaining seventy percent come from. Two League members are monarchs in their own right, and their contributions are on record, accounting for ten percent each, but that leaves half the budget still unaccounted for."

"Fascinating," Bruce replied, feigning boredom.

"When we compared that unaccounted for budget against the money that was missing from Wayne Industries..." Lex left the statement dangling as he bent down to pick up his frappuccino for another drink.

"What exactly do you want, Lex? You keep stalling whenever I ask you a direct question." Bruce said finally.

Lex looked at him with eyes hooded over the rim of his drink. "Robin gave you the data Mercy and Eve gave him."

Bruce shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Lex sighed, "What did I tell you about underestimating my intelligence? The Robin kid works for The Batman. The Batman works for you. The guy you have in the costume might be on the ball for the most part, but you're the driving force. You give him his marching orders. Of course, he's going to hand the data to you."

Bruce shook his head and gave an exasperated chuckle. "Lex your assertion is absurd. If I'm the Batman's boss, who is the Batman supposed to be?"

"You've had several." Lex replied finally. "I still haven't figured out who the first one was, but my suspicion is that he ended up becoming the Joker. The rumors about the Joker's origin said that he was in the Red Hood outfit when he was stopped by the Batman and ended up accidentally falling into a vat of toxic chemicals which drove him nuts. But it was just the two of them there... and the Red Hood's never been a specific person. It was a criminal persona that had been passed around. I posit that the Red Hood got away clean and it was the Batman who fell into the chemicals. It's why Joker's always been so obsessed with the Batman. He wants to be the Bat again."

Bruce stared at him, completely dumbfounded. Lex had him. Bruce could try to lie, but the expression on his face told Lex everything he needed to know. He had to press the advantage. He needed the support Wayne had at his fingertips. Lex continued. "Right after his accident, I suspect your second one was Harvey Dent. On top of his own impressive laundry list of mental issues, making him your second number two, must've helped spark something when his mind broke after they maimed him in court."

"Now look here, Lex... Harvey and I were friends, but that doesn't mean-"

"After that," Lex spoke over him, "You switched gears. Your first two Batmen were no doubt good men who'd been broken by what they went through, so you tried someone who was already broken. You picked a petty thug named Matches Malone."

"I've never even heard of this Malone-"

"Which actually made him perfect for your purposes. Petty criminal. Low rent, low life thug. No links to you. No reason for you to care about him... if he broke, then you could find someone else to replace him." Lex grinned, "Except third time was the charm. He turned out to be extremely good at the job. You set a thief to catch thieves and it worked. Except for a brief period in the 90's when some maniac stole the costume away from him, Malone's been your personal superhero for years now."

"The suggestion's absurd!" Bruce countered. "The Batman, if he did exist, couldn't possibly be just some street thug."

"On the surface it sounds as absurd as you being the Batman," Lex replied, "No offense."

"None taken."

"But he's not being the Batman by himself. You're helping him. You've got access to the financial and logistical support he would need. I'm very good at recognizing patterns, Bruce. There's no way someone like Malone could survive making a living as cheap muscle for almost every single criminal organization in Gotham. Every single one. I also find it interesting that any crew he's been with inevitably gets hit by the Bat within a few weeks of his departure. Some patterns tend to really stand out."

Bruce merely stared at him.

"Did you know, that if someone were to manage to take out maybe two dozen key men in the Gotham underworld, Matches Malone is actually in a position to take over?" Lex chuckled. "I'm sure you must've set that up somehow, because prior to hooking up with you, there's nothing in his dossier to indicate any sort of strategic nor tactical brilliance."

"You did this for a leg-breaker who probably would've gotten himself locked away in Riker's years ago if you hadn't gotten to him first. The same goes for nearly every other member of your cabal." Lex reached into his coat and pulled out a sheaf of photos that he tossed casually onto the table.

Bruce picked them up and looked through them, alarm in his eyes, but his face still struggled to stay impassive. They were all clear head shots. In civilian attire and their uniforms.

Lex began rattling names off. "Robbie Malone, Matches' Malone's son. The first Robin. Another no-hoper who would've ended up in a life of petty crime before he finally escalated to follow in his father's footsteps. I believe he's working with your son the policeman up in Bludhaven now as Nightwing."

"Jason Todd, the kid of one of Two-Face's henchmen and later your adopted son. The second Robin, someone who would likely have been swallowed whole by Children's services then spat out a hardened criminal."

"Instead, he died." Bruce replied in a soft, bitter tone.

"The Joker talked about him once. A long time ago. As I understand it, he went down fighting." Lex said, but he could see the bitter cast in Bruce's expression. He had to move on before that memory soured everything.

"Alvin Draper, another juvenile delinquent who ended up as the current Robin. Respected by the heroic community. Another life turned around."

"Helena Bertinelli, the only survivor of the Bertinelli family massacre. Mob princess turned vigilante. The Huntress. Three quarters of the way ready to self-destruct and unleash a mob war on Gotham the likes of which even Hollywood couldn't imagine. Then once she moved here... she's suddenly a school teacher and the Huntress stops maiming people. Something else you can take credit for."

"Stephanie Brown, daughter of the Cluemaster. Now prowling the night as the Spoiler. Who I believe might also have been dating Draper at some point and has a daughter by him. Right now, her life's also been turned around. Doing well in school. Doing well as a masked vigilante."

"I haven't managed to figure out who the first Batgirl is, but I suspect she's the woman who now coordinates the Justice League for you. Had to retire after some sort of crippling back injury, at least that's what Prometheus told me."

Bruce's face had smoothed out during Lex's recital. "That was the Joker again." Bruce said finally.

Lex's eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers as various pieces fell into place. "Then... that makes it Barbara Gordon. Amanda Waller's had her eyes on that woman. She's supposed to be a genius. Which makes sense the more I think about it."

"Your research has been very thorough, Lex." Bruce said ruefully. He leaned back in the easy chair, steepling his fingers before him. He'd inclined his head forward slightly and the shadows of his brow seemed to hood his eyes. Made them dangerous. Lex knew he'd finally gotten through to the man.

"You needn't worry about anyone overhearing my little recital, Bruce." He gestured at the slightly distorted air around them. "Privacy force-field. Keeps sound from inside the field from getting out."

"Doesn't work so well against a lip reader." Bruce noted idly.

"I suppose not." Lex shifted the pictures on the table around somewhat until a particular pair of photos revealed themselves. "Last one. The second Batgirl..." Lex glanced up to explain the point he was trying to make when he spotted a familiar female form. "Who I just realized is walking towards us." Lex sputtered to a stop as the lovely Asian woman waved to them.

She was in an expensive, well-pressed tan suit. Her hair was done up in a bun and she wore a pair of half-moon spectacles. She ignored the shimmer in the air as she stepped up to them. Lex had to admit it was a very good look for her. He also had to remind himself that she was underage.

Bruce leaned into the chair deeper and said, "Did I mention lip readers?"

Lex smiled up at the woman and said, "Angel."

She gave him a curt nod, then glanced over to Bruce. "He knows about Malone. Shall I kill him?"

Lex sputtered once more. This was unexpected. He knew Bruce wouldn't have met with him without protection. But he'd chosen the public location specifically to curtail any possible confrontations. He held still, tense. He'd seen the woman move. He knew that she could tear a man apart with those dainty little hands. He'd misjudged them. He'd underestimated Wayne. He slowly slipped a hand into his pocket, prepared to hit his panic button which would send Mercy running towards him. He doubted she'd be able to get to him in time, but by God she'd be able to take vengeance for him.

Bruce held up a hand, "No, Cass... get him a danish. And can you find out what's taking my Heartracer so long?"

She nodded once more, then broke into a wide grin for Lex. She grabbed the frapuccino out of Lex's hand and took a long drink from it. "Should have seen your face." She said, barely suppressing a giggle.

Lex relaxed and noticed that she'd demolished half of his drink in a few sips. He would have complained about it, but she'd already stepped away from them once more, heading for the counter where Lex noted Paul was back behind the counter. Just in time for the girl he knew as "Angel" (aka Batgirl), to reach out and grab Paul by the collar. Lex couldn't quite make out what was being said, but he was certain she was threatening him.

Bruce also seemed to relax a little. "As you can see, I didn't come unprepared."

Lex chuckled. "I keep chiding you about underestimating me, but I see I made the same mistake."

"Quite." Bruce said with a tiny trace of smugness in his voice.

Lex nodded. "Mea culpa. Nevertheless, I think you can see the pattern I was trying to establish for you."

"No, Lex. Spell it out for me." Bruce replied.

"You turn people's lives around. You redeem them." Lex spoke fervently. "You take criminals, the children of criminals... those with no hope... no chance for redemption and you make them better." Lex seemed to collapse into himself. He let his facade drop for a moment and allowed the exhaustion of the past months, all his fears and anger to show through. "Do that for me. I need you to help me make up for my life."

Bruce was silent. Even Cass's arrival with a plate bearing three pastries and his Heartracer broke the silence.

Lex say miserably on the couch, obviously struggling to pull himself back together when he felt Cass's hand on his shoulder. She didn't say a word as she slipped onto the couch and gave him a small one-armed hug, which he shrugged off with an embarrassed shake of the head.

She smiled at him briefly, then looked to Bruce. "He means it." She said. "Wants to be better. He's been bad a long time. A very long time. He wants to make up for it."

"I don't know what I coul-" Bruce began to say, but Cass cut him off, giving Lex another pat on the shoulder.

"I've been bad. I figured out early. I didn't know how to be good, until you helped me learn how to be good." She spoke slowly, then glanced at Lex. "He didn't know how to be good. " She patted his bald head with fondness. "He was bad for a long time But he wants to be better."

Bruce tried again, "I can appreciate that, Cass... but he's..."

She made another curt hand-gesture. "It's the same. I was bad. Now good. He was bad. Wants to be good. Thinks he knows how to be good. Wants you to help him make good."

Bruce sighed and looked at Lex. "In concrete terms... what do you need me to do?"

Lex had gotten his composure back. As much as he was able to, but Cass's presence at his side was distracting and soothing. "Cards on the table time, Bruce." He said, "You've seen my information on the Manhunter conspiracy?"

Bruce nodded. "I've confirmed most of it." He frowned deeply. "Even to the fact that I do have the same amygdal scarring you describe."

Lex nodded. "You also know I've pretty much destroyed Cadmus."

"And spent the better part of the past few months chasing down every spare Manhunter you can." Bruce replied.

"I have additional information now that I didn't have at the time." Lex said, pulling out a small e-Reader from his inner coat pocket. He tossed it to Bruce. "This is what Mercy calls the Cliff Notes version explaining who is actually in charge of the conspiracy and what else they've been up to. There's a slide show presentation available if you prefer..."

Lex settled back quietly into the couch as Bruce Wayne read. Lex glanced down in surprise and noted that his drink had vanished once more. Cass was drinking from it while nibbling daintily at one of the cheese danishes she'd brought back. He frowned at her and she flashed him a playful grin.

"The glasses suit you." He said.

"Disguise." She replied briefly with a shrug. "Don't need them."

He chuckled. "And your hair looks nice like that."

She sniffed. "You liked it loose."

"I was delirious with fever then."

"Angel." She mouthed, then laughed. He laughed with her.

Lex glanced over to Bruce. He could tell the man had just sped read through the information he'd provided. He also had his eyes closed and his pupils beneath the lids moved in a distinctive way. Telepathic communications, Lex decided. Now that Lex had solved the riddle of Bruce Wayne, the man seemed to no longer care to hide things from him. Or perhaps the seeming openness was its own trap. The Justice League, Lex decided, was getting an update from their boss. He hoped they would do what he expected them to.

Bruce's eyes snapped open and he looked at Lex. "This is all true?"

"To the best that I can determine." Lex replied.

"I'll have the information confirmed."

"Most of the original information sources that you could get your hands on would've been destroyed long since."

Bruce smiled. "We have our ways."

"Ah, yes. Ms. Gordon." Lex said thoughtfully. "That was her voice in my head when the Mageddon event happened, wasn't it? The voice coordinating the entire population of the planet to take out a planet-sized superweapon from the dawn of time."

Bruce held up the e-Reader. "If this does turn out to be all true and we have a window of two months remaining before they attempt to query Earth's Manhunter agents, what do you expect to be able to do?"

"I'll need Batman and most of the Justice League to spearhead a mission to Oa before the deadline is up."

Bruce shook his head. "Impossible. Batman can't leave Gotham for too long. There's too much to do."

"Never tell me something is impossible, Bruce." Lex tutted. "I've made arrangements to give your Batman some breathing room."

"What do you mean, 'breathing room'?"

"Notice how quiet it's been in Gotham lately?" Lex asked with a grin.

"What did you do?" Bruce asked darkly.

"I made arrangements." He glanced down at his watch. "As of twenty minutes ago, Joker should have checked himself back into Arkham demanding that they lock him up for the rest of his life."

"What?" Bruce almost shot to his feet.

"There were defects in the original Lazarus pits engineered by the Manhunters and designed to drive Ra's Al Ghul progressively mad. I had access to the Manhunters' database and the method for correcting those defects." Lex said casually. It was actually much more complex than he'd hinted at, but they did not need to know that right now. "I had Ra's replaced with an impostor to keep the League of Assassins in check after I drove him sane."

Bruce looked as though he were ready to have an aneurysm. "You drove Ra's sane?"

"And took over the League of Assassins." Lex said, stealing his drink back to take a sip. "The real Ra's is in a sanitarium in upstate New York recovering. He's had a rough century."

"How does Joker fit into this then?" Bruce asked tightly.

"I wanted to see how well the perfected Lazarus pit could work." Lex said, keeping his voice cool. He was doing his best not to make it too obvious how terribly it had affected him, "I simply chose the craziest individual I knew. I told him it would drive him sane. He said he wanted to see it try. I bet him a Klondike bar that it would do it."

"And?"

"He came out crying, perfectly sane, remembering everything he's done with perfect clarity."

Bruce winced. "My God."

"His brain chemistry and the brain damage had healed themselves in the Pit." Lex nodded. "A biopsy confirmed that much. I had some people arrange to take him to Arkham right before I left to meet up with you here. I don't think he'll be causing trouble for a while."

Bruce closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "You're not planning on marketing this, are you?"

"No, of course not." Lex said dismissively.

"He's thought about it." Cass said from beside him. "But not much."

Lex frowned at her and continued. "The Pit takes too long to set up, it's too difficult to repeat in the same spot... and I have a genetic patch treatment from the Cadmus data that may do the exact same thing far more reliably." He shrugged, "It's best used for it's original purpose of prolonging life and bringing back the dead."

Bruce shook his head. "All this to buy time for the JLA to be on Oa."

"Their presence is critical." Lex said. "It can't be me leading the charge, Bruce... no one trusts me. It needs to be them."

"Why the JLA? You've put together teams before. In fact you've led them with some success. Why bother trying to get us to do this for you?"

"It's always simpler if I don't have to keep waiting for the inevitable betrayal. "Lex replied. "Your people will stay focused and on-task, whereas any team I could pull together that would be effective would be busy trying to find out how to take advantage of the situation and looking out for themselves."

"What do you intend for them to do?" Bruce asked.

Lex gestured expansively. Or he would have, if Cass hadn't been in his way on his left side. "Oa is the center of the universe." He said, then glanced at Bruce. "Are you familiar with Sun Tzu?"

"Yes."

"Oa is the center of the universe, easily reached by nearly every hyperluminal capable civilization. The exact same civilizations Oa has been manipulating. Oa is Junction Ground."

"You intend to join with allies?" Bruce asked slowly.

Lex merely grinned.

"When you have your allies, what then?"

"Once together, we will stand at the heart of Guardian Power. Oa is the center of the universe. Their seat of power." Lex replied.

"Serious ground." Bruce said softly. Lex nodded.

Bruce sank back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. Lex recognized it. Telepathic communication again. Obviously the Martian. His intent appraisal of Bruce was interrupted when Angel... Cass, he remember Bruce call her, leaned distractingly against him. "You're being too mysterious. It annoys him."

"Then it's working." Lex flashed a grin at her.

"He is funny when he gets annoyed." She agreed and handed him an empty frappuccino cup. He wasn't entirely certain when she'd gotten it back, but she had managed to finish it. "Shoe on the other foot."

Bruce opened his eyes once more and spoke. "I am not funny when I'm annoyed." He said flatly, then turned his attention to Lex. "We've checked your information against what we had available. It's... compelling."

"That quickly?" Lex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We have the ultimate speed reader on staff." Bruce said dismissively. "We had to be sure. There's precious little confirmation-"

"You wouldn't find much, like I said." Lex replied. "My own source was only able to provide corroboration off-world. Mostly ruins."

Bruce nodded. "We do have eyewitness testimony that corroborates parts of what you've given us. The Kryptonian historical record and Thanagarian archeological evidence bear out other parts of your information."

Lex chuckled, "Trust but verify?"

The dark-haired man didn't even bat an eyelash, "We don't trust you, so it's verify all the way."

"I trust him." Cass volunteered.

"I trust your judgment," He replied pointedly, "I don't trust Lex. So I made a few arrangements of my own."

Lex raises an eyebrow. He'd actually been enjoying himself. It wasn't often he dealt with a man who he felt could be treated as an intellectual equal and despite knowing better, Lex kept being surprised by the depths that Bruce Wayne had been keeping secreted away. He flashed Cass another irritated glance. "Well, let's see those arrangements in a minute. Someone," He gave Cass another meaningful look. "Appears to have stolen my drink."

"She does that to Robin's cookies too." Bruce said mildly.

"They were lonely." She replied innocently. "I introduced them to new friends." She punctuated her statement by rubbing her belly through her suit coat.

Lex rose to his feet. "Well, that being said, I do need a dri-" Whatever else he would've said was interrupted by Paul, who was no longer quaking in his little loafers standing next to him. "Frappuccino, sir?"

Lex started and the drink was pushed into his hand.

Bruce nodded to the barista and flicked up a hand which had a folded fifty in it.

He would have been tempted to gloss it over, but a few details caught his attention. This Paul showed absolutely none of the earlier terror of him or Cass. He looked closer at the collar of the man's shirt and noticed that it didn't quite look right. After a certain point the material melded into the man's skin. It wouldn't have been noticeable normally, but Lex was quite close. The letters on his name tag were also in a slightly different font... and despite the heavy scent of coffee in various forms that permeated the air, there was a distinct scent about this Paul.

Like chocolate sandwich cookies. With a cream filling.

Lex sat back down and almost missed it when Cass acquired his fresh cup. "Arrangements, Bruce?" He asked sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked innocently.

"You called in the Martian." Lex said pointing at 'Paul'. "Were you Paul all along?"

The man's eyes flashed red for a moment, just enough to confirm his identity for Lex. "No. The real Paul is in the employee locker room at the moment, replacing his pants. Cassandra's earlier conversation with him made an impression. On his bladder control."

"What do you think, J'onn?" Bruce asked distantly, giving his pronunciation of the name a slight lilt at the vowel. Lex wondered if Bruce actually knew how to speak Martian?

It was disconcerting hearing the Martian's stentorian bass issuing from Paul's pale, pierced face. "Luthor's mind is a cesspool of depravity and vice."

Bruce and Lex both frowned.

J'onn continued. "Which is probably being fueled by the fact that he has Miss Cassandra pressed against his arm." Lex flushed and Cass looked amused and pleased.

"Can we stay on-topic, please?" Bruce said with a sigh.

J'onn nodded slightly. "He is telling the truth to the best of his knowledge. He believes his plan has the best chance for success. It is bold, audacious and seems likely to work." He shook his head, "Luthor believes that he is humanity's only chance to survive free... which while arrogant, may even be accurate."

Bruce merely raised an eyebrow and Lex knew some sort of telepathic communication was no doubt going on.

"He's sincere." J'onn said finally. "He really does want to be a better man. He considers this task to be part of his penance. His redemption. He wants to make a better world..." J'onn chuckled. "Preferably one where people make fun of Superman for having his underwear on the outside."

Lex shrugged. "I have very specific ideas of how I want the world to be like."

"There is arrogance, pride and limitless ambition in him... I never thought I'd say this, but he means well." J'onn continued, putting a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I know you do not trust him but he bears listening to."

Cass had her arms crossed when she said smugly. "Told you."

Lex leaned back into the couch and smiled smugly as he folded his arms across his chest. It was all coming together.


	16. Chapter 16

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 16**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex had something he hadn't had in months.

Time on his hands.

Certainly he still had to finalize details for his invasion of Oa. He had dozens of business issues clamoring for his attention, especially now that his technology was beginning to make waves. Then there were endless rounds of personal appearances that his publicist were calling for.

Except the first was being handled by Wayne, who despite continuing to keep Lex at arm's length seemed to have developed a surprisingly good working rapport with the man. He knew how uptight and self-righteous the super heroic community tended to be, but Bruce was... strange. For the most part he kept up his little air-headed Brucey act, but there was steel behind that facade, no doubt about it. His other... agents... were elsewhere and limiting their contact with him to avoid suspicion. They had their own assignments and there was nothing else Lex could do with them. His own part had already been handled and once the messages were sent, all he really could do was wait.

The second item was being handled ably as ever by Miss Teschmacher. While Lex had left most of LexTech and it's parent company, LuthorCorp's, dealings to her in the past, she took to full control of those businesses with an ability and enthusiasm that pleased Lex to no end. Having already lost everything previously he found that he cared much less about his financial holding this time around. He was far more willing to trust someone else to handle his money, considering the other demands on his attention. The fact that she was very efficient and a complete whiz at making the right decisions for making the most money made the whole deal a sound business decision as far as he was concerned.

He'd started making it a point, with some prodding from Mercy, to pass by Eve's desk in his warehouse every so often to tell her how well she was doing. Bruce still occasionally sent an e-mail trying to hire her away. She always told Lex, whereupon Lex would bestow another raise or some other such largess upon her. She already owned one of Lex's Lear jets and one of his Caribbean hideaways. He had a post-it note on one of his monitors to disable the rocket launchers and the attack robots before he flew her out to Isla del Sabado Diablo. He was beginning to suspect she was goading Wayne with displays of efficiency to make him send those e-mails.

The third item, the public appearances were being dealt with by Junior, as they had dubbed the Lex Luthor Look alike. Lex still hadn't actually spent much time with the poor man. It disturbed him having to see someone else with his face. It was made worse by the fact that Lex knew that it had been done to the poor bastard without his consent. Lex couldn't even imagine having to undergo what he'd been put through. His memories were a complete mess and all Lex could figure out about him was that he'd been from Wisconsin and had been in the US Air Force before they'd carved him up into a malleable and occasionally Lex-like shape. This had happened sometime around the War with Warworld and Apokalips. Lex had already run searches on USAF MIA personnel for that time frame, with no success. Junior was still surprisingly upbeat for all of that and Lex admitted to himself that he enjoyed the man's company, but only in small doses.

With all the able assistance surrounding him, Lex felt just a tiny bit superfluous. On the other hand, it also gave him a free afternoon. Something he had not had since that lazy Sunday when he'd scanned his brain because he'd been bored.

He still found himself wondering sometimes what would have happened if he'd decided to work on the nuclear powered popcorn maker instead of the slide? Would he be in this position he was in now? Or in a sewer somewhere... still on the run from the law, but enjoying perfectly buttered and salted popcorn that glowed in the dark?

He laughed at the thought. He spoke out loud, trusting the voice controls in the warehouse to take it down for him "Memo to self: For April 1st next year: One ton of Kryptonite irradiated popcorn. One thousand pigeons. Magnetic disruptor." He'd stopped creating death traps for Superman, but that didn't mean he stopped thinking about them. It was entertaining. He further justified it to himself that the worst result of covering Superman in mildly kryptonite laced pigeon droppings would be a nasty skin rash.

Even with all the revelations he'd undergone, even after all the changes and the self-doubt and self-assessment, he'd come to two simple conclusions. He truly didn't hate Superman anymore. On the other hand, he still really didn't like him. At all.

Even if it hadn't been for their shared past... there was just really something about the big blue boy scout that set Luthor's teeth on edge. He knew that the sap hadn't figured out how to break free of the strings they'd tied him up in. All the hang ups and silliness of being 'human', but Lex acknowledged that it was a good thing those strings existed. After all... it had only been the human morality drummed into him that had kept him from turning Lex into a greasy stain. Lex didn't like having to consider that particular fact, especially given his own recent struggles to find a moral framework he could work with.

These were just a few of the idle thoughts passing through Lex's head as his hands busied themselves with his current project. A week. That's all he had left before that absolute deadline passed. In seven days there would be no more possible way to hide what he had done and what he knew from the Guardians. He was using that time ruthlessly.

He knew they were lucky to have had even as much time as they'd had, but it was running out. His messages were beginning to have the desired effect, but Jordan was still a few days behind schedule. Rayner said he might be able to help, but his own aspect of the work was tricky enough that he had to concentrate on it.

Lex hadn't heard back from either man since the day before, but he hoped they were doing well. They weren't quite as omnipotent as they had been, but they were still certainly powerful enough to matter in the cosmic scheme of things. Unfortunately they also had to operate in absolute secrecy. Their existences as Parallax and Ion were Lex's secret weapon. One of several he'd had readied.

Just like what he was readying at that very moment. His previous battlesuit was a kludged together beast of conflicting technologies that was as apt to fry his nervous system as it was to pound Superman into the dirt. There had been some good ideas in it, but they'd all been tacked on afterthoughts to an existing base. Now he was designing from the ground up. The current result was considerably different from his last effort. He was wearing it to make certain the fit was right while he continued to work on it. A pair of arms from the ceiling were holding him up off the floor so that he could test the boot thrusters without destroying the tile.

Mercy, who'd been enjoying the quiet day with her shows on Lex's massive holo-screen had remarked at the bright purple tights and almost fluorescent green of the armored chest plates, gloves and boots, "What is with your obsession with green and purple, anyway?"

"Purple's a majestic color." Lex had remarked stiffly. "And the green on my old battlesuit designs were unavoidable because of the kryptonite shielding I needed to use."

"But you aren't using the kryptonite shielding anymore." She'd replied.

Lex stopped at that, then shrugged. "I converted the Black Hand's energy siphon designs into a power sink for the suit's capacitors. I don't need the kryptonite on-board power supply anymore, since I can use slides to shunt power from the entire US power grid into the suit, but I've also got a power tap in the eternal flame back at the Coast City memorial, the resulting energy from that ended up recoloring the armor to green. It was originally gold."

"And you still have the purple." Mercy said flatly.

"It's a good color!" Lex snapped.

"On the old suit, sure... you had a lot of fiddly details to break up the color a bit. This is kind of... sleek. You're one huge block of purple, with bits of green." She smirked, "Let me show you." She called over her shoulder to Eve who seemed intent on something on her screen. "Hey, Eve. How does this thing look to you?"

Miss Teschmacher who was still slightly frazzled looked up and responded without thinking. "Like a giant unpicked eggplant."

Mercy smiled a tiny smile. "I rest my case."

Lex frowned and tapped a control on the gauntlet. The luridly purple color darkened until it seemed to be completely black. When Lex shifted, allowing sunlight to strike the ballistic circuit cloth a certain way, one could still see the underlying purple color, but now it was much more subtle. "Better?" He asked pointedly.

Mercy pursed her lips, considering the change which now made the green armor plates stand out more prominently. "That actually looks pretty good. Kind of looks a little like a Green Lantern uniform."

He shrugged, "I can live with that, I suppose." Lex had gotten the bulk of the suit down to the point where it could've been worn under specially tailored clothes, at least with the chest plate and gauntlets off. Most of the weapons were still off-line since he'd chosen to concentrate on the defensive systems. Lex gave Mercy a sidewise glance, "Since when do you care what my armor looks like?"

"I've been watching a lot of Queer Eye lately." She replied primly. "Blame Eve. We think we should invite those guys to give you a make-over."

Lex endeavored to look offended. "I know how to dress myself, thank you very much."

"Yes, but you could dress better." Mercy smirked.

Lex frowned at her. "Aren't you on duty? Why am I getting the full Mercy snark treatment this morning?"

She adjusted her cap slightly then leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing her legs at the ankles. "When I realized that you handed over the reins to Eve. I pull a LexTech paycheck, so I work for her and you can't fire me anymore."

Lex raised an eyebrow and smirked back. "She's CEO, but I still own the company, you still work for me."

"Oh, Lex... You try to fire me, she just hires me back and probably gives me a raise in the process."

"There are times when I wonder if it's worth keeping you on staff." He replied with narrowed eyes.

She sniffed. "I can outfight a SWAT Team, make your coffee the way you like it in the morning, bench press a motorcycle and fill out this cute little chauffeur's outfit like nothing you've ever seen. For that kind of package, you can put up with a bit of snark now and then."

Lex tapped a few more commands into a portable probe, then nodded. "I suppose that is true." He raised his voice, "Hey, Eve, make a note please. Order Mercy some more uniforms, but shorten the skirt some more."

Eve nodded back from across the room without saying a word and flashed a thumbs up sign.

Mercy frowned at him, then fingered the material of her skirt. "You know... this thing is practically just a wide belt already."

Lex made a point of looking as though he were ignoring her. "Well, I am conceding that you made a valid argument. Consider your job saved. Especially once you show a little more leg."

She fumed at him and pulled down on the skirt a bit. Then she reconsidered and pulled the skirt up to show an extra inch of leg with a self-important sniff.

"That looks about right." Lex laughed and continued his work.

"I thought you'd stopped with the whole powered armor suit thing after nearly getting your brains fried in your last set." Mercy asked, finally changing the subject.

"After almost getting my head shot off, then getting the stuffing beaten out of me by alien robots, and then teleported to a volcanic island with no means of escape, I've decided that it is silly going into a knife fight with anything smaller than a machine gun."

"So more risking brain damage then to get these to work?"

"I went a different route on this set. No more telepathic circuitry... even if I could figure out how the psionic controls on the Green Lantern rings work, which I haven't... I'm not going to risk that kind of feedback. So this time, I've got a neural shunt in my spine for control. Same extension of my own body simplicity to control, none of the messy burnouts."

"So... no brain frying, just possible paralysis?"

"I'll just clone a new spine if I screw this one up that badly. I have the technology now."

Mercy walked around him with a thoughtful expression on her face. "If this is supposed to be armor, Lex..." Then she poked him in the cheek.

Lex flinched. "Yes?"

"Why do you never have a helmet in your designs?"

"What are you talking about? My head is very well protected-"

Mercy pointed out. "Yeah, but you don't actually have anything physical covering your head."

Lex shrugged, "Anything that would be strong enough to get past my other defenses would pretty much crush any helmet I could design. Seems like an unnecessary redundancy. Also, it would limit my vision."

She scoffed once more. "Oh please, if you really wanted to, you could make a helmet that was nothing but displays so your field of view would be just the same as though you had nothing on."

"It's not the same," Lex argued. "This one has a laser optical display. Sends images directly into my retina by bouncing a laser off my pupil from the collar piece. Nothing obtrusive. No telepathic relays providing me with the equivalent of a pre-programmed hallucination."

"Steel uses armor too and he has a helmet." Mercy replied.

Lex gave her a flat, hard stare.

"So did the Anti-monitor."

Lex replied, "The Anti-monitor was an energy being trying to destroy the universe."

"See? He didn't have hair either and he had a helmet. There's a pattern here, Lex. You should pay attention."

Lex frowned at the hair crack. He'd actually been tempted to clone some additional hair for himself just to see how it felt again, but he hadn't had the time and... well, he'd just gotten used to not having to use shampoo.

She smirked. "I just think you like showing your face."

"What?" Lex sputtered.

"That's obviously it," She declared. "Vanity."

"Don't you have some snack pockets you need to eat?" Lex asked sharply.

"Nope."

"Then take a break or something." He snapped.

She grinned. "I'll get right on it, boss." With that, she turned on her heel and went over to Eve's work station,

Lex grumbled as he finalized a few more refinements. The weapons were still largely offline, but the hard point mounts for them were prepared. The forcefields and environmental controls all seemed to be functioning to within specifications. The maneuvering components which consisted of redundant sets of directed thrusters and gravity control units were not as responsive as he would've liked, but Lex was confident he would have them working properly in another half hour.

Sudden thoughts that were not his own pushed themselves into the forefront of Lex's mind. "Luthor."

Lex gave a gasp, but bit down on his surprise quickly. The intrusion and the sheer... rudeness of it left him not bothering to cover up his pique, "Martian. What do you want?"

The deep voice continued to speak in his head. "Inbound to your position from deep space. Watchtower telemetry only picked up on it a few minutes ago when it passed lunar orbit."

It was impossible for Lex to disguise his growing annoyance at that and it showed in the thought he shot back. "Aren't you using the equipment I provided? Why did you let it get so close?"

"My apologies, Luthor. The inbound was so small that it did not initially register as a powered vehicle until it got close enough for our instruments to pick up. It is performing atmospheric entry at high speed and will be at your position in under a minute."

"Don't you have anyone available for intercept?" Lex all but roared in his mind.

"More apologies. It's moving too fast for an intercept with our available assets. It is decelerating at this point and should come to a dead stop by the time it reaches sea level. Unfortunately its trajectory, assuming it does not change directions will land it in the middle of your warehouse."

"Take your apologies and shove them, Martian." Lex snapped. "Do you have any identification for it? I'm assuming it's not a Green Lantern, otherwise you would have mentioned it sooner. And it's not someone flying in, since you mentioned a vehicle."

"No. It is on a Kimo'kla-Tegraf Space Hog retro-fit of a single Thanagarian Mass-thruster."

"Space Hog? That's the model where someone slaps handlebars and a seat on a starship engine and called it a vehicle?"

"Correct. Usually they are used purely as interplanetary leisure vehicles. The complete lack of life-support and navigation systems make their use limited to only a few races."

Lex cursed under his breath, he knew of precisely one alien who used such a vehicle and had previously had dealings with Earth. It was fortunate that telepathic communications happened at... if one pardoned the pun... the speed of thought.

"Can't you stop him telepathically?" Lex asked.

"I can barely touch his mind. It's awash in red rage. Any psychic violence I could inflict on him would just make him... angrier."

He called out loud. "Mercy! Arm the anti-air defenses! Eve, get under cover! We have less than a minute til a hostile class three ET drop-in." The secret service alert codes still came easily to his tongue. Lex knew she would understand. The classes indicated threat levels. Superman himself classed a four. Darkseid was a five. Mercy, in mid-swish caught the tone in Lex's voice and dipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out the keyfob that activated the second floor lasers.

Lex shot a thought to J'onn, "Get me some help down here as soon as you can!"

"I have assistance en route, but they will not be able to get there for at least fifteen minutes." The voice calmly returned.

"If you people are this planet's foremost defenders, I really don't understand why we aren't speaking Khundian." Lex thought back.

From her desk, Eve froze, uncertain of what to do next. Mercy ran for her position, pulling her up and out of her seat before dragging the startled blonde to the door that led to the parking basement.

"How bad?," Mercy, not privy to the conversation Lex was having in his head, called to him from the basement door.

"Bad." Lex spoke as the mechanical arms holding him lowered him to the floor. "Pull a toastmaster and the party crasher from the vault."

Mercy paled, but kept the professional expression on her face. Ridiculous names or not, those were the heaviest man-portable weapons they had in their local arsenal. After the incident with Chemo, Lex had stopped taking chances and had made sure to have them as heavily armed as he could get away with. She nodded and closed the armored door behind her.

Lex strode over to his work-desk, trying to see if could find anything to cross-connect to the wrist mounts on his armor. There might not have been enough time to connect anything to the targeting systems. He shot back a wordless thought to J'onn requesting a real-time display of the trajectory and approach of his uninvited guest. The Martian also zoomed the image out to provide him a secondary marker showing him where his assistance was and the route it was taking.

He did the math in his head and began counting down. He knew he could not finish setting up any of his weapons on the armor. He only hoped he could use other weapons that he already had on hand. He hurriedly tapped in commands on his workstation while a series of blinks, facial twitches and eye movements allowed him to make changes to his armor's on-board computer. He'd planned on doing the interface with his central computer systems at a more leisurely pace, but there would be time enough to clean up his programming later. Assuming he survived.

He blinked twice then mentally shifted his attention away from the telemetry J'onn was feeding him in favor of the wireframe overlay that had appeared in his vision. Now he had an augmented reality view of the "Space-hog" screaming through the atmosphere to get to him.

"Same extension of my own body simplicity to control." Lex muttered to himself and extended both hands. The laser grid which Mercy had activated responded to the relays he'd just programmed. He was controlling the warehouse like it was part of him. The overlay showed him the path that the various laser defenses would take once shots were fired. He moved his hands until the majority of those paths intersected the intruder. He flexed and felt the lasers shift their aim.

He wanted those parts of him that could shoot lasers to do what they were supposed to do. Owing to the limited amount of time he'd had in setting up the programming, this involved making a gun out of his fingers and wiggling his thumb to shoot.

His augmented reality view showed the lasers scoring solid hits, but it obviously wasn't quite enough. He aimed lower, hoping to take out the vehicle. His uninvited guest could not fly and although he knew it could survive reentry, it would be more painful than a regular landing would be. Green K lasers shot out from the warehouses windows, disguised from the outside by sunlight making them hard to see.

The screaming vehicle closed in on Lex's position. The lasers emplacements did nothing to divert it. "Not enough punch." Lex muttered to himself, trying desperately to have as many beams as possible converge on a single point. Unfortunately, the speed of descent made it impossible. Between Lex's commands, the kludged together interface and the reaction speeds of the servos for the laser turrets, they just simply couldn't coordinate fast enough to take out the target before it could arrive.

It had gotten close enough that the sensors surrounding the warehouse gave him a clear view through the roof. The space hog, which looked vaguely like a motorcycle with no wheels and a massive rocket motor attached to its rear, turned sharply upwards as it's occupant leapt off, diving straight for Lex's roof.

It was moving too fast for him to do anything more than brace himself. A pair of waldos behind him reached down to help hold him in place as the humanoid form smashed through the roof and ceiling of the warehouse, moving at considerable velocity.

Lex had had a lot of experience with beings possessing meta-human levels of strength and resilience crashing through human-made structures. This was a fairly good one. The cement was pulverized by the impact and the metal supports twisted and burst open allowing the being through. He smashed into the floor, cracking and splintering the tile. A tiny part in the back of Lex's mind was already tallying up the damages.

The dust settled slowly as the leather clad creature strode forward. It's skin was chalk white and it's lank hair was long and greasy. Around one wrist was a massive chain that ended in a hook that it held in its meaty fist. Most of the rivets on his outfit, like the chain and hook, were still red- hot from atmospheric entry.

Lex straightened up and tried his best to project confidence and nonchallance. "Hello, Lobo."

"Hey, Baldy." The Czarnian responded with a broad grin. "Nice lasers. Kinda tickled."

"Any particular reason you decided to come visit?" Lex asked casually.

"Nothin' personal." Lobo replied, pulling a battered stogie from his vest pocket. He popped it into his mouth, then touched the tip to his slowly cooling hook. A deep intake of breath flared it to life. "Bounty on your head. Actually a bunch of 'em. You comin' with the Main Man quiet-like or do I turn you in for one of the 'dead' bounties instead of the 'alive' ones?"

Lex shot a thought in what he believed to be the general direction of the moon. "Martian, how many other alien incursions have there been in Sol space in the past week."

"A half-dozen." J'onn's voice spoke out of nowhere in his head. "We chased all of them off before they even reached Lunar orbit."

"How many were bounty hunters?"

"I believe most of them were."

Lex ground his teeth together and shot a final thought to J'onn. "You didn't think that was worth looking into?"

Lobo noisily cleared his throat then shrugged. "Look, I can just pound on you til you're ground chuck. I'm just giving you the option cause I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and be more... what was it the fishies told me?" His face curled up into one of terrible concentration. "More... um... open and friendly in my... uh... dealings with others."

"Crashing through my ceiling is being open and friendly?" Lex asked incredulously.

"Hey, I stopped to talk first before I started smacking you around. Count your blessings."

Lobo rolled his shoulders, creating a mass of popping noises as he did so. "Anyway, time's up. I'm picking for you!" That spoken, Lobo leapt towards Lex, hook extended to gut Lex.

Lex gestured and four of the ceiling waldos reached down, catching Lobo in mid-air. The pale skinned man struggled, but Lex pulled the grasping metal arms apart, preventing Lobo from getting the leverage to use his massive strength.

Lex brought forward two more waldos and proceeded to smash them into Lobo's face. The tiny cuts they inflicted closed before they even had a chance to bleed. Lex pounded into the alien with the mechanical arms more desperately, but it just wasn't anywhere near enough. He couldn't turn the laser mounts towards the warehouse's interior and the forcefield defenses weren't responding. Lobo must have destroyed some of the necessary power conduits. All he was doing was stalling and making the Czarnian angrier. Where was Mercy?

Lobo gave a snarl and to Lex's horror he caught one of the closed metal fists between his teeth. With a sickening metal wrench, he twisted his head to the side and tore the waldo loose from it's mounting. With another twist and wrench, he struck the waldo holding his left arm with the one in his teeth, damaging it just enough for him to break out of its grip.

Lex took a hop-skip backwards, allowing the anti-grav systems reduce his weight enough so that the movement carried him thirty feet away from Lobo, bringing him closer to the door. The time it took for him to do that was enough for the grinning alien to rip the rest of the waldos out of the ceiling.

Lex shook his head and took over the displays in the basement, allowing them to display the video feed from his suit's sensors. He didn't want to worry Eve, but on the other hand, he wanted to impress on Mercy the importance of haste. He cursed his own carelessness for not having her keep a comm unit on her even at home.

Lobo dropped to the floor with a thud, still holding the now floppy waldos crushed in a single fist, looking like a horrible mechanical bouquet. Lex's overtaxed mind supplied, "Worst date, ever."

"Very cute," Lobo rasped, using his free hand to pick up Lex's couch. With a grunt of effort the pale skinned alien hurled it at Lex. He ran, scrambling out of the way, but he'd become so intent on avoiding the massive projectile that he hadn't kept an eye on where Lobo was.

His first indication that he'd screwed up was taking the waldos hard against his ribs. The forcefield and armor held, but the blow knocked the air out of him and hurled him into the warehouse wall. "I am so out of practice..." Lex muttered harshly to himself. His breathing was loud in his ears and his ribs creaked. The work he'd wanted to do to the inertial dampening should've kept that from happening, but the armor was still unfinished. He hadn't quite expected to have to be on the front lines so soon.

"Mercy!" He called out.

Lobo laughed. "I ain't got any!" He roared, twisting the broken waldos together to create a spear of jagged metal.

"I'm not talking to you!" Lex said. He could try to take this outside. The hole Lobo had torn in the ceiling was within leaping distance. So was the garage door. He crouched, preparing to leap when the floor erupted in a torrent of golden energy right under Lobo. The blast was intense enough to slag the broken waldos Lobo had been holding.

Lobo was knocked back and off his feet by the blast. A five foot diameter hole had been opened in the floor. Lobo looked slightly charred, but none the worse for wear. The hair on his face had been crisped, but there was no obvious damage beyond the look of surprise.

A cable with a grappling hook shot out from the hole at an angle and clamped onto one of the ceiling beams. Before either Lobo or Lex could react, Mercy rose up from the hole like a mini-skirted, chauffeur-hatted goddess of vengeance. The cable ascender was attached to her belt. In each hand she had an oversized cannon. Both weapons had been meant to be wielded with two hands, but Mercy clearly had other ideas on that score.

"Good shot!" Lex said. "What took you?"

"You changed the vault combination!" She accused him, dangling in mid-air suspended by the thin cable.

"It's your birthday."

"I know! You're lucky I tried that after trying your birthday, Pi and the Fibonacci sequence." She said. "Thanks for setting him up for me."

Lex's first reaction was to ask what she meant, but quickly realized that she thought he'd planned for what she'd just done. "You mean show you on the monitors where he was standing then distract him so you could get a cheap shot in?"

"Yup."

Lex grinned, projecting confidence he wasn't really feeling. "Yes... just as planned."

Their banter gave Lobo a chance to get back to his feet, shaking off what little effect the last blast had had on him. Lex noted that he even still had his cigar clamped between his teeth. Mercy set both of her own feet on the lip of the hole in the floor to brace herself, then fired the Ameritek BG-80 Toastmaster point blank into Lobo's face, leaning her whole weight into the weapon to counteract the recoil.

At that distance, with no floor in the way, the Toastmaster was free to work it's full destructive power. A cone of energy was unleashed from the barrel of the weapon. This time, however, Lobo was ready for it and braced himself against the force of the blast. The wall behind him and the floor around him blackened and burned. Lobo's cigar was reduced to ash in a fraction of a second.

The skin on Lobo's face crisped and peeled back, but even through the glare, Lex could see that Lobo was healing the damage back almost as fast as it was being inflicted. Lobo raised his chain covered arm, putting it between his face and the beam. The metal blazed red and began to bubble, softening and dripping off of Lobo's arm. The stench of burning meat was horrible, but the tiny bit of protection the melting metal afforded him seemed to be enough to allow Lobo to gurgle through newly regenerated lips. "I'm gonna enjoy making you eat that gun." Then he leered. "Then I'm gonna making you wrap your lips around other stuff as well."

Mercy sniffed disdainfully and made as clear a response as she possibly could. She let go of the Toastmaster's trigger, letting Lobo stumble forward slightly as the force he'd been pushing against was suddenly released. It was just as well, the battery on the Toastmaster was completely drained and the metal barrel was looking distinctly warped.

Before Lobo could recover his balance, she took aim and pulled the trigger on the Party Crasher. Which was the nickname for the LexTech DX35 hand-held particle accelerator, alternately known as a particle crasher, depending on if one was more concerned about one end of the path or the other. It generated molecular sized granules of anti-matter then shot them at relativistic velocities. To say that the damage it did was considerable understated matters by an entire order of magnitude.

The red laser targeting pointer blossomed on Lobo's crotch for only a fraction of a second before the terrible WHUMPH sound of normal matter flashing into pure energy when introduced to high velocity anti-particles. Lobo gave a keening high-pitched scream as he lost his happy place, several pounds of muscle from his thighs and a good portion of his pants. He lost the battle with gravity due to the destruction of critical tendons and pelvic bone structures necessary for staying upright.

Lobo fell forward, clutching at the space between his legs that was no longer there. Lex winced and suppressed the urge to cross his own legs. He took the opportunity to move in closer and snatch up the discarded Toastmaster. He slid it into the tesseracted space in his gauntlet for later use. He looked up and it was clear that even after that and the massive splatter of too-red blood from Lobo's wounds, the Czarnian's body was still trying to heal.

Mercy saw it too. She kicked off from where she'd been bracing herself and dropped the Party Crasher in the process. It would take a while for it to gather the necessary energy for another shot and Mercy had a faster method in mind for taking out their unwanted visitor.

She landed near the agonized Czarnian and dipped her hands into her pockets to pull out a pair of knuckle-dusters that she was wearing backwards, with the striking surfaces facing the palm, rather than the back of the hand. Lex noted the arcs of electricity from them and shielded his eyes once more as he realized what Mercy intended to do. He did so love it when she fought dirty.

She took Lobo's head between her hands and triggered the shock knuckles to release their full charge right across Lobo's brain. More hair burned and smoke was beginning to come out of his nose, mouth and ears as the massive electrical charge arced through the pale alien's head. His mouth was locked open in a soundless scream as his body went into what looked like an epileptic seizure. It took almost a full minute before the batteries in her weapons were completely drained and Lobo finally slumped bonelessly to the floor.

Mercy toppled backwards away from him. Her hair was standing straight up and she'd lost her hat in the struggle to keep the shock-knuckles on his head, but she didn't appear to be injured. Lex laughed as she gave him a big thumbs up.

They were silent for a long moment before the door to the basement burst open and Eve ran out. "I saw everything! Are you okay?" She asked urgently.

Mercy staggered back to her feet as Eve got to her. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Mercy said as the smaller, blonde woman fussed over her.

"What, I don't get any attention?" Lex asked with a smirk.

"You didn't get hit." Mercy sniffed. "I, on the other hand, am a delicate flower of womanhood."

Eve was about to add her own jibe, when Lex saw Lobo suddenly twitch once more and reach for the two women. Reacting entirely on instinct in the split second afforded to him, Lex rocketed across the room, borne on the faulty thrusters. As he passed the ladies, he cried out to Mercy, "Hold Eve!" and slapped the button on Mercy's belt mounted cable ascender.

Mercy, still keyed up, grabbed Eve by the waist just as the motor started up once more, sharply jerking both of them out of Lobo's reach at the same moment that Lex crashed inelegantly into the once more conscious Czarnian.

Lobo managed to grab Lex by the throat, pulling the bald man off of him. Tremendously strong fingers tried to crush forcefield reinforced titanium alloys and for that moment, the armor held. "No more mister warm and fuzzies, you bald little bastiche! I'm going to rip your head off and use it as a fancy ashtray! Then I'm going to show that frail in the mini-skirt what it means to try to get rid of the Main Man's Big Gun. I'm going to do her, her girlfriend and her entire fraggin' family and their neighbors to within an inch of their lives but I ain't gonna waste 'em cause I'm gonna make 'em all watch each other and then rip everyone's arms and legs off and eat them! Then crap those bits out and make them eat 'em and then do it all over again from the fraggin' beginning!"

Lex winced as the incoherent rambling grew more and more vulgar, spittle was flying everywhere and veins bulged in Lobo's neck and temples. Lex also noted with no small amount of horror that while the entire crotch of Lobo's pants had been blasted away, his tremendous regeneration had already regrown the parts previously lost.

Making matters worse, it looked like Lobo was tremendously aroused. Lex averted his eyes in disgust and Lobo slammed him into the floor, cracking and destroying even more of the tile. He was being rattled around, but it wasn't actually hurting him... exactly. Much. A concussion was rapidly becoming a possibility.

Lobo decided smacking Lex into the floor was such fun that he began slamming him repeatedly into it, shaking Lex up and keeping him from formulating anything a thought more coherent than "I wish he'd stop."

The slamming stopped when Lex realized he was hearing gunshots. He looked up and found that Eve was clinging desperately to Mercy's back as the redhead took potshots at Lobo with her Dessert Eagle. Lex was amused that she considered the massive weapon to be a holdout pistol.

Lex could see where the chalk white flesh had closed around bullets still embedded in the Czarnian's body. Center mass shots. Kill shots on a normal human.

Lobo seemed puzzled, then looked up at Mercy. "You're crazy. You already tried to take me out with anti-matter and you think a chemical slug-thrower's gonna stop me?"

Lex grinned and said out loud "Bang." Nothing happened. He looked up at Mercy and said in a frustrated voice, "You didn't use the bullets I gave you last week, did you?"

"I still had hollow-points in this clip!" Mercy called back down.

Lobo laughed suddenly, holding Lex up again at arm's length by his neck. He said to Mercy, "You're ballsy, kid. I like that. Tellya what. Let's you and me grab some dinner and a couple brewski's and see where things lead? I'll even let you kiss the bits you shot off and make it all better."

Mercy frowned, "Tempting as that sounds, I'm going to be washing my hair for the next couple of years. And I have nothing to wear. So... no."

"Y'can keep wearing the skirt. Just lemme turn baldy in for the bounty on his head and we can even go to someplace fancy. Y'know... one of 'em spots that have table cloths and stuff. I might even pay for a drink."

Eve, at a complete loss having been drawn into her first fight in her life, called out from her perch, "You need pants for that!"

Lobo gestured eloquently at his exposed crotch. "I can see up both yer skirts. I can't help it. Red up there's got some serious legs."

She sniffed. "I'm glad someone noticed."

Lex called back, "I noticed! But I'm sure you're not that desperate for compliments!"

Lobo gave Lex a shake, rattling his brains. "You keep outta this."

Lex didn't need any prompting to try and take advantage of the surreal turn the day had taken. As the girls continued to distract Lobo, Lex had begun making some programming changes to his forcefield and life support systems. He didn't have any working weapons, that left trying to weaponize what he did have on hand.

Unfortunately, Lobo wasn't about to give him an opportunity. The Czarnian stared for a moment then grinned. "You know what? I'm noticing about yer forcefield... it's pretty good, but you've got crap inertial dampening."

Lex felt his guts clutch in fear as Lobo lifted him up, and grabbed hold of an ankle with his free hand. Lobo gave a whoop and spun Lex repeatedly over his head at an incredible speed. Unprepared for the sudden ten G's of acceleration his frail human body was subjected to, Lex mercifully blacked out before he could lose his lunch.

Mercy and Eve both cried out at the now limp Lex that Lobo continued to hold by the ankle. Lobo grinned. "Strugglin', but still alive. It's payday, babes. You just keep hanging around. The Main Man'll be back for some lovin' quick as a blink."

Lobo whistled through his fingers and a few seconds later his Space Hog cruised through the massive hole in the ceiling. Lobo trussed Lex up with a spare belt and slung him across the engine housing. The vehicle left a flaming contrail as it angled upwards and shot straight up into the sky.

Mercy hurriedly slapped the control on her belt that allowed the motor to winch her down to a soft landing on the ruined floor. She ran to the hole staring up at the disappearing form of her boss and his kidnapper and cursed.

Eve simply stood, stunned.

It was at that moment the Flash arrived.

Mercy said sharply over her shoulder, "You're late."

"Where's-" He began to ask, but before he could get more than that out, Eve had grabbed him by the front of his shiny red uniform and screamed into his face, "Where the hell were you? An alien psycho escapee from a KISS concert just kidnapped the only man who can save the planet and he has no pants!"

"What?"

"Lex was kidnapped by an alien bounty hunter." Mercy explained in a tense voice. "What took you so long?"

"We were tied up with a Starro outbreak in India-" Flash began to explain, but was cut off once more.

Eve spoke in a tight, cool voice. Outwardly she seemed to have calmed down, but Mercy could tell she was only just barely holding it together. "I almost lost Mr. Luthor a few months ago and I am not having that happen again. Get hold of Wayne. We need a spaceship. Now."


	17. Chapter 17

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 17**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

There are many good ways to wake up. Finding yourself trussed up on top of an extremely warm and heavily vibrating engine housing is not one of them. This was made worse by the headache and nausea caused by passing out from being swung around at high speed by a vicious alien bounty hunter.

Alien bounty hunter in question was currently straddling that same engine, with his hands on a set of handlebars. Lex continued to feign unconsciousness as he activated his suit's sensors and took stock of his situation. He shouted in his head a few times, trying to see if the Martian had maintained contact, but he suspected they were beyond his range. Determining that unhappy fact, he opened his eyes just a slit.

Deep space. Not enough observations yet for Lex to figure out exactly where they were, but it was different enough that Lex knew for sure they were no longer near the Sol System. There was a thin skin of air surrounding the seat. Barely enough to hold a conversation in if one wished, but not enough for a normal human to survive on. Lex was glad his suit's life support was one of the first things he'd completed, otherwise Lobo would have had to turn him in for a 'dead' bounty.

The shortcomings of Lex's battlesuit, other than the complete lack of real weaponry, were mostly soft-ware related. All the necessary components and equipment were in place, but they weren't optimized to work together. At least... not yet. One the things Lex knew about space travel was that it involved a lot of time spent doing... nothing.

The Space Hog, being a far more seat-of-your-pants sort of space vehicle, required more attention than the average space ship only helped Lex. Lobo was going to be more concerned with driving than in his nominally unconscious prisoner.

Lex made a couple of blinks to switch to the virtual keyboard in his gloves and continued his programming. There was no need to panic... and frankly, Lex was not looking forward to having to deal with Lobo on his own, but unlike back at the warehouse, he was not going to risk taking on the Czarnian unprepared.

It would not do to act without enough information. Once he had a better idea of where he was and what the situation was, only then could he make plans.

Those plans had run into a number of annoying snags, however. As he worked, he found that his suit had managed to maintain it's programming link back to his computers back at the warehouse. That was the good news Unfortunately, whether from damage during the battle or simple bad luck, his communications server and the Slide link had locked up. He was fairly certain the problem could be cleared up with a reboot... unfortunately, he couldn't communicate with anyone to tell them to do the reboot. If they'd been working he could easily have slid himself back to Earth with a gesture, but Lex realized he was well overdue for some sort of disaster.

He had no clear idea of what was going on back at the warehouse with his limited communications, but he was fairly certain he had successfully left a text message on the holo-screen to let them know he was okay and more or less where he was. Several calculations and sightings gave him a rough idea of where he was and the direction they were headed in. Unfortunately the roughness of having to do those calculations by eye and by memory made any guess he had for his location to roughly within a few hundred million of miles.

He'd tried to tilt the odds as best he could as far as the warehouse and the people there were concerned. He had to concentrate on getting his suit to some sort of useful shape.

It was several hours of satisfying programming later, as the chronometer in the corner of Lex's vision informed him, when the space-hog sputtered to a stop. Lex was annoyed that he hadn't had an opportunity to test anything yet. On the other hand, managing to get as much work done as he did while still pretending to be out cold, was still quite a feat.

Lex considered having himself kidnapped more often just for the peace and quiet it afforded him.

With the latest stop, he shot off another text message to the warehouse screen and updated his approximate location. He really hoped Mercy or Ever were paying attention.

Lobo suddenly stood up in his seat, as pointless as the action was in the depths of space and cursed long and luridly. The voice was tinny and faint in the thin skin of atmosphere, but it was enough for Lex to hear him.

Lex flicked his eyes up, catching sight of Lobo reaching into his vest and drawing out a ratty piece of folded paper. The Czarnian unfolded it, studied it carefully... then balled it up and let go. It floated next to his hand, moving only slightly.

Lobo dropped back into the seat and folded his arms, looking as though he were deep in thought. Lex closed his eyes once more, pretending unconsciousness.

Finally he reached back and flicked Lex on the forehead. Hard.

"Quit pretendin' you're still asleep, ya bald bastiche. I know you're awake." Lobo said gruffly.

Lex opened one eye and regarded Lobo wryly from where he was trussed up, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah." Lobo said, turning around in his seat so that he could face Lex more comfortably. "Yer a brainy science type of bastiche, right, baldo?"

Lex had both eyes open now and sighed. "You could say that."

Lobo pointed at a region of empty space directly in front of them. "That's supposed to be Machu-Cedan Quadrus. Where is it?"

"And what, pray tell, is Machu- something or the other?"

Lobo crossed his arms, "Reach trade outpost world. Mostly uninhabited rock except for one city. I was gonna drop you off, pick up the bounty for ya and be on my way back to those babes you had at your place."

"Touch them and I will kill you." Lex replied darkly.

"You can try." Lobo said in an amused tone. "You're tappin' both of those as the same time, ain'tcha?"

Lex frowned, "Machu-Cedan?" He said pointedly.

Lobo shrugged, "What I'm askin' is... what causes a whole frackin' planet to disappear? It ain't blown up, cause there ain't no debris. Even it's moons are gone."

Lex thought about the name it sounded familiar. He quietly pulled up a complex list from his suit's memory and smiled slightly. Ah. It had been on the list. Quite a ways down, which also told him that Jordan was finally on schedule. For the first time since he'd woken up he was beginning to feel optimistic once more.

"Were they the ones offering the biggest live bounty?" Lex asked conversationally. "What was I supposed to have done, anyway?"

Lobo scoffed, fishing a dirty piece of jerky from his pants pocket and chewing on it. "Yer not gonna try and tell me yer innocent, are ya? I mean you used to be a president or some sorta political crap. No way yer clean."

Lex reached up with his bound hands and snagged the floating piece of crumpled paper. He opened it and saw a reasonably good head shot of himself. The rest was written in a particular script that he wasn't completely familiar with, but was able to puzzle it out. "Is that a one million?"

"Ten million." Lobo said. "For Acts of Professional rudeness."

"That's a crime?" Lex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"To the Reach? Yeah. Establishing competition to their corporate policies on one of their planets is an automatic death sentence." Lobo drew the jerky across his neck. "Yer lucky they want you alive."

"Who else wanted a piece of me, then?" Lex asked, letting the crumpled paper go.

"Next highest bounty for your shiny little head is the five million credits the Coluans are offering for it." Lobo said speculatively. "They're a couple days out from here on the hog... but the next nearest Reach world is about a week." He huffed. "Yer life support's probably not gonna hold out that long and the best 'dead' bounty for ya is from the Durlans and that's chump change. Then there's a buncha penny-ante crap that doesn't name you specifically from a couple dozen worlds."

"How do you know those bounties are on my head?"

Lobo gave him a look. "Little frog told me."

Lex frowned. He had a suspicion about why the Reach wanted to get hold of him. They were quite technologically sophisticated and he was certain they'd managed to figure out that the messages had come from him. The trumped up charge was probably just a fast way to get his attention. He knew their antagonistic relationship with the Guardians and had not wanted them invited to the party, but their intelligence gathering was top notch.

On the other hand, he was sure he hadn't sent anything to the Coluans. They were neutral towards the Guardians, but they were essentially neutral or at least completely indifferent to most everything save abstract knowledge. They would have resources to finger him as well, but they wouldn't want anything that Lex could think of, so the question remained... why? Again, not enough data.

It was time to remedy that. He asked his captor, "Why do the Coluans want me?"

Lobo shrugged jamming the rest of jerky into his mouth. "The wanted post said they were had ya on a grand spamming charge."

Lex flinched. "They... what?" If Lex's hands had been free he would have slapped himself on the forehead. That one might actually have been justified. He hadn't counted on his message distribution system itself causing the problem.

"Grand spamming." Lobo said offhandedly. "It's a life sentence in the data mines on Colu."

The Czarnian belched loudly, no doubt tainting the thin atmosphere that they shared and Lex was very glad for his environmental field at that moment. He had a sour look on his face as he spoke. "Feetal's Giz! I guess we're gonna head there after all. I fraggin' hate Coluans."

"You could just let me go." Lex replied blandly.

Lobo's only response was a derisive laugh and a patronizing pat on the top of Luthor's head. "Yeah right. Word got out that the Main Man started letting prisoners go, that's it for my rep. Then next thing you know dumb bastiche's gonna insult me about it in a bar then I'm gonna have to kill him and his buddies and set fire to the place just to make sure everybody gets the message." He gave Lex's head another painful rub. "Fun, but more trouble than it's worth."

Lex shook his head trying to shake off Lobo's huge, pale hand. "Fine... how about something less likely to cause trouble with your reputation, like giving me a ride back to Earth once I get away. Just wait about twenty four hours near where they'll be holding me. I'm just going to need a safe, comfortable lift back to Earth and back to my home without any further damage to me or my property."

Lobo laughed once more, this time it was a much more amused sound. "You think you can get away from the Coluans? Ya definitely got balls, baldy. Why ain't you trying to get away from me?"

Lex gave him a sly look, "Hey, I know when I'm beaten. The way I see it, anyone you turn me over to is going to be much easier to escape from."

"I know yer buttering me up," Lobo chuckled. "That said, what's in it for me if I play taxi fer ya?"

Lex smiled brightly up at his captor. "I can tell you how to cash in on all those other bounties without having to cart me around to all those other places."

Lobo looked at him thoughtfully then said, "Keep talkin', baldy."

"Do we have a deal?" Lex pressed.

Lobo grunted, "Well, I was plannin' on visitin' Earth for fun anyways, so now I also get paid for the trip? Sounds doable. Wait one day outside where you're being held then give you a safe ride home after you get away. Although if you're trying to play me, I'll rip your legs off and stuff 'em up you so far you'll be tasting your toes."

Lex winced internally, but kept the smile on his face. "Obviously, I can give you information to prove to them that I'm the one they're looking for."

"Then what?"

"I'm sure most of those other ones are offering rewards for information leading to my capture, not an actual capturing." Lex replied, "Just tell them where I am. They should pay up. Even if a couple of them choose not to pay up, I'm certain enough will to give you a good bit of change."

Lobo did not seem impressed, "I dunno. Seems like a lot of boring work for not much results."

"What work?" Lex shrugged. "You can send one generic video message to everyone offering a reward... hell, I can even give you a list of other governments who'd be interested in getting their hands on me and might be willing to pay."

"That's pretty solid of you, baldy." Lobo said with a nod.

"I really want to get home."

"I think we got a deal then. But if I don't get any money out of this, I'm takin' it out of your hide." The Czarnian wiggled a finger at Lex's nose.

"Tell you what, I can throw in a selection of energy weapons, including ones like Mercy was using."

Lobo grinned. "Have her hand 'em to me while wearin' nothin' but her cute lil hat and a smile and we definitely have a deal."

Lex narrowed his eyes. "She'll be in a swim suit. And the hat."

"Bikini. With the hat."

"Deal."

"Deal." Lobo laughed. "I woulda gone up to shorty-shorts and a belly shirt."

"I just have to hope she doesn't kill me when I tell her about this." Lex muttered, then said "Give me a minute to write out the list of who to contact and the info you'll need to prove I'm the one they're looking for."

He began moving his fingers once more, re-encoding the information into a flat file the he could move into a removable drive on one of his gauntlets. He also included a copy of the codec that would clean up his message to allow visual identification.

As Lex continued to work, Lobo took a sudden, sharp inhalation and a strange look passed over his face. "Well that's mighty interesting."

"What is?"

Lobo pulled a knife from the top of his boot and waved it near Lex's face. Lex froze, wondering if he might somehow have misread Lobo, but the knife simply sliced through the bindings holding his hands together. "I've got a feeling we're not gonna need to have to make the long drive to Colu." He flashed a smile that send a chill up Lex's spine.

There really is no sound in space, but even so, Lex could imagine an experienced Foley artist adding in a whooshing noise as the massive space ship slowed to a smooth stop from seemingly nowhere to take up a position next to Lobo's bike.

The vessel was more in line with what one would expect from a star ship. It was roughly the size of a Lex's warehouse and the bow of the ship had some characters written in gold letters. Lex's interlac was rusty, but he was able to puzzle out the words "LEGION – B2 – 001".

Lobo smiles savagely. "Well, now I know what happened to the planet."

"Do you?" Lex raised an eyebrow. He actually did know what had happened to the planet and wondered what Lobo's take on events was.

"Betcha anything that bastiche hid the planet from me so I couldn't turn you in to the Reach." Lobo replied.

"You really think someone would do that?" Lex stared.

"Have you met Vril Dox?"

"I don't think so."

"He's a Brainiac." Lobo said, turning the word into a curse.

Lex frowned. "I've met Brainiac's one, two point five, five, thirteen and seen the remains of eight. Which one is this?"

Lobo shrugged, "Two I guess? I useta work for him. He's why I fraggin' hate Coluans."

"I know what you mean."

Before them a holographic image of a man in a militaristic looking white coat with a black, high-collared undershirt and black slacks that looked like jodhpurs. He wore high cut heavy boots that did nothing to detract from the military look of his outfit. Around his right sleeve was a black arm band with a gold logo that resembled a fist closing around a sun. Across his chest, were various official looking insignia. The man's skin was green and his hair was blonde and in neat crewcut. The eyes of the image seemed to flick arrogantly from Lex to Lobo, then back to Lex before a mild smirk appeared on his green face.

"Hello, Lobo." The voice sounded odd in his ears and was giving him a headache. He suspected someone was using microgravitics to vibrate the bones in his skull... the equivalent of shooting mosquitoes with a tank. He was certain those same fields could be used to turn both him and Lobo into greasy red smears. Lex briefly wondered at the mechanics involved, then realized belatedly that he was sitting on what was essentially a space motor bike and decided his life was strange enough for him to accept talking in deep space without analyzing too deeply. For now.

"Dox," Lobo ground out. "How've you been?"

"Much less stressed with you freelance once more." The man replied breezily. "I understand you have Lex Luthor of Earth?"

Lex twitched at being ignored and raised a hand, "Right here."

"Ah, excellent." Dox clapped his holographic hands together briskly. "Very well then. On behalf of Colu, the Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network will take possession of your prisoner."

Lobo shrugged, "S'long as I get paid, I don't care who you're takin' him for. Full Coluan bounty, right?"

"Absolutely." Dox's image nodded. "Give me a moment and the entire five million will be transferred into your account."

Lobo clucked his tongue in what he imagined was a sly manner. "Y'know the Reach are offerin' twice what the Coluans are."

Dox raised an eyebrow, "They're also much further away and I can disable your bike with a wave of my hand. Good luck making it to Reach territory by hitchhiking."

"But you and I both know you ain't gonna do that cause it'd just piss me off." Lobo replied.

"Precisely. The money's been transferred, Lobo. Let's be on our way." Dox gestured idly.

Lex spoke hurriedly and passed Lobo a small cylinder from a chamber on his gauntlet, "Red button triggers the holographic display. The list is on there of who to send to and their addresses. The proof they'll need is the second file." Lex grinned. "As agreed."

Lobo nodded. "Sure thing."

Dox raised an eyebrow. "What's this about?"

Lobo shrugged. "Runnin' a little favor for baldy." He grabbed Lex by the back of his collar and hurled him at the LEGION star ship with an underhand throw. "He's all yours!"

Lex didn't feel the vertigo of the movement thanks to his modifications, he didn't even feel the impact against the hull. He clung desperately to it and mumbled, "Glad to see something worked," as he felt himself begin to dematerialize.

Lex reappeared inside what could only be described as a cell. A plain white room devoid of any features save a slightly elevated area which could serve as a rough cot. The walls were spongy and slightly tacky to Lex's fingers. It was the perfect temperature for being naked in. Which was just as well, as Lex had reappeared without his battlesuit. He fought down a moment of panic, but realized belatedly that there was writing on the wall. His rough Interlac came back to him enough to realize it was a receipt. All proper and by the book. That at least meant that there was the possibility that it would be returned to him.

He looked around more closely. There was a slight change in the material in one corner, where he suspected a camera was located. On the assumption that the cot would be placed as far away from the door as possible, he suspected the door of being on the opposite wall. He walked over to a wall and ran a fingernail over the soft material. It sprang back almost as soon as he pulled his hand back.

Naked. In a cell. Tough material on the wall. No resources. Not even a spoon or a pointy stick.

Tricky.

Seams appeared on the wall opposite the cot, precisely where he had expected the door to be. He briefly considered jumping whoever was on the other side once the door completed opening, but he didn't have enough information, nor resources to enact a proper escape. So... patience.

Despite his nudity, Lex put on a welcoming smile as the door irised open. Two humanoid robots with oversized armor plates strode in and took positions on either side of the open door. Through it stepped a green humanoid with close cropped blonde hair. The one who'd been on the projection. The Brainiac.

"Don't prisoners get clothes?" Lex asked casually, putting his hands on his hips, in a manner that not only ignored his nudity, but accentuated it.

Those arrogant eyes turned upon Lex and flicked away dismissively. "Normally they can keep their own clothes, but frankly, all you were wearing was a surprisingly sophisticated battlesuit." Dox gave a chilly smile. "You understand of course why it might be prudent not to let you have it back."

"Of course," Lex murmured. "I don't suppose I could borrow a pair of pants, then?"

Dox shook his head slightly, "No, I'm afraid not. I suspect you're going to be a difficult prisoner, so it's best not to give you any chances. That you are even conscious at all is a minor courtesy I am extending to you, but rest assured that if you act up in any way, I'm prepared to put you into a medically induced coma for the remainder of the transport."

"Doesn't that seem a little excessive?" Lex asked with a chuckle. "I mean I'm just one human. You have me completely at your mercy. What could I do with a pair of pants after all?"

"Given your current conditions, I can think of a seven different escape scenarios that could be implemented with a pair of pants." Dox replied. "From the technology your battle suit contains and the nature of your crime, I'm afraid any additional concessions beyond what you currently have will not be possible."

"The nature of my crime?" Lex asked, convincingly baffled. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. Lobo said some very odd things about spamming-"

Dox cut him off. "Colu is not just a communications relay. Your messages... your hugely bloated and heavily encrypted messages tore through the precisely timed and scheduled Coluan network with no regard for the resources being allocated to them. I suppose you can barely understand this, seeing as how your planet only just barely discovered steam power, but Coluan minds are connected to the network. Their sleep and idle cycles are used to provide additional processing power to our world. Granted, you were fortunate that no loss of data occurred as a result of your actions, but the nuisance and loss of productive cycles was not something that the Coluan government was prepared to overlook."

Lex pursed his lips thoughtfully. He definitely had not counted on that. The messages were supposed to cause a stir and set people looking for him. That's why he'd hidden himself so well, but he hadn't realized that his message delivery system itself might bring him unwanted attention.

"The messages were traced, but imagine our surprise when the messages all seemed to originate from empty space." Dox paused significantly. "While a plausible explanation of a heavily stealthed remote vessel was the source of the transmissions, the other suggestion that someone was manipulating the fabric of space-time itself to produce the signals from a remote location."

"Really? How does that relate to me?" Lex asked brightly. "Sounds like your mystery sender could have been anyone."

"Could have been, yes, but it was you." Dox tilted his head slightly and gave the naked human a look which could only be translated as 'do you think I'm stupid?'.

Lex gave an eloquent shrug.

"Space-time distortions similar to those found at the origination of your messages are all over your battlesuit. The physiological parameters and psycho-technological patterns inherent in the transmission coding match your records to seventeen data points." Dox continued. "If it wasn't you, it was some sort of evil twin with a perfectly matched profile, but that would be ridiculous."

"How would you even have my records?" Lex scoffed.

"For a quaint little backwater, your world's law-enforcement has been most conscientious about updating your criminal records on various inter-world criminal databases. Your Thanagarian records are quite specific."

Lex was growing more agitated. He was fairly certain it had been the Justice League that provided that information without realizing it. Hopefully it was out of date. That however was not what bothered him. It was as though the green-skinned man was trying to throw him off his game. To what end? Information, information. He needed to catch up. Someone had dropped him into the middle of a chess came and hid half his pieces. "What criminal records? I've never been convicted of anything."

"Multiple arrests, however." Dox replied. "And unlike your quaint legal system, the Thanagaians make no assumption of innocence. You are obviously a hardened criminal."

Lex's eyes narrowed, then he nodded. "Well, I suppose that makes some sense." Lex smirked. "If they had that information, why haven't the Thanagarians picked up on this?"

"They didn't have the information I did." The Coluan said bluntly, "And frankly, none of them are anywhere close to smart enough to figure it out."

Lex nodded. So no help from that quarter. His suspicion was that the Reach had figured things out in a similar method. He was fairly sure the slide junction he used for the communications relay couldn't be directly traced back to him. "I'm guessing though that there's more to this story. You want something."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"The fact that you're here. Talking to the prisoner."

Brainiac gestured with elaborate boredom. "I have a short attention span and the robots aren't terribly good conversationalists."

Lex eyed him. "You're a rather clumsy liar. You're not exactly a social butterfly, Brainiac. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me I make you hot." Lex posed in manner that might've looked more appropriate on Mercy.

"I will admit to being curious as to your intentions." Dox said as he examined his nails, ignoring Lex's display. "There are strange correlations surrounding your grand spamming, Luthor."

"Are there?" Lex asked, trying to mask his curiosity, but only succeeding partially.

"Oh yes. Very strange. For instance: are you aware that right after your messages were sent out, delegations- heavily armed delegations, I might add- were sent from Thanagar, the Khund home world, Rann, New Tamaran and the Vega system to Oa?"

Lex allowed himself small, pleased smile which he didn't care if the Brainiac saw. That part at least had worked to some extent. "Really? Well, I'm from a quaint backwater world that's only just discovered steam power. What would I know about interstellar politics?"

"What indeed." Dox said flatly. "And I'm certain you wouldn't know anything about a large number of navigational errors that started occurring around the same time?"

Lex shook his head and didn't even bother to hide his widening smile. "Nothing at all."

"Because if one were of a suspicious turn of mind, one could imagine that someone had used those messages to plant a virus that has been inducing errors in navigation systems."

"Is that so?" Lex asked, buffing his fingernails on a non-existent shirt. "To what end?"

"A disruption of interstellar trade, perhaps one being laid at the feet of the Guardians?" Dox asked.

"I suppose if one were of a suspicious turn of mind, one could make that argument." Lex replied.

"As it turns out, Luthor, I am of a suspicious turn of mind." Dox said. "I'm quite prepared to bring this information up to the Oans. After all the current nussiance at their doorstep is as a result of your actions."

Lex clamped down on a brief surge of panic with a smile. "So... you put out a five million credit bounty on me for spamming, navigational hijinks and prank calling?"

"Of course not. It's obvious there's some grand scheme at play here to inconvenience the Guardians. I don't see all the elements of it yet, but it's fairly obvious. My suspicion is that your navigational hijinks are intended to confuse interstellar travel and prevent assistance from reaching Oa as you trick these other governments into harassing Oa for whatever nefarious purpose you may have."

"Nefarious? Seriously?" Lex raised an eyebrow. "I'm just a private citizen with no nefarious purposes.

"Be that as it may, Luthor... I find that you are potentially useful." Dox replied.

"Colu wants some- ah. Tell, me... your psycho-technological patterns, what were the next closest forerunners besides myself?"

"Much more tenuous matches." Dox said with a small approving smile. "Ten point match to Reach tech and a six point match for the Manhunters."

Lex smiled broadly, "I see. You believe I'm either in possession of technology that... what? Sending signals through a manipulation of the fabric of space-time? Or do you think I have access to Reach stealth technology?" Lex noted the slight change in Dox's expression and continued, now certain of his own conclusions. "Ah. I see. Were either of those true, I would remain valuable."

Dox chuckled slightly. "It is always interesting to see a mind, even one as primitive and woefully under-equipped as yours actually manage logical thought."

"So this whole exercise is an attempt to strong arm me into providing Colu," Lex took in the smug expression on Dox's face and realized something. "No. Not the Coluans. You. You personally want these technologies." Lex said. On his face the smile remained, but inwardly he was seething. Months of planning disrupted by the greed of a Brainiac. Luthor felt his hatred of Coluans surge. As much as he disliked Kryptonians, and one Kryptonian in particular... logic and his own gut were telling him that if anyone really deserved his loathing, besides the Guardians, it would be the Coluans... and the Brainiacs in particular.

"Excellent. Complete understanding in under five minutes. You are a credit to your species, my naked ape."

"It's your fault I'm naked." Lex looked forward to having pants. And boots. Boots he could use to kick the Brainiac sharply in the genitals.

"As long as you don't fling your feces at me, I shall continue to be pleased." Dox said with real amusement. "In addition to your freedom, I am prepared to provide you with a fairly large sum in exchange for these technologies."

"Who do you think you're dealing with?" Lex snapped. "Any sum you provide me would be dwarfed by what could potentially be done with my work."

"You have no idea what uses such technology could be put to. I have the resources of eighty worlds at my disposal. If you wished, I can ensure that your name will be spelled out across the stars and your genius hailed across the galaxies." Dox said soothingly. "Genius, especially one such as yours, deserves recognition."

"The flattery comes much too late. I don't intend to please you any further, Brainiac." Lex said sharply. "Attractive as your offer might be, you offer me nothing that I cannot get for myself. I will not furnish you with my technology. A technology I realize you not only don't have, but one which you have failed to reverse engineer, otherwise I would not be here." He grinned a wild, feral grin.

Dox frowned slightly. His expression made it plain that he hadn't quite expected Lex to come to that conclusion just yet. "That is disappointing. I was almost beginning to like you. You refuse to see reason?"

Lex continued to smile disturbingly. His entire attitude conveyed the single thought. That he would like nothing better than to sink his teeth into Vril Dox's throat. "You don't deal with many humans do you? I can tell. We're not a species that likes being backed into a corner."

"You're naked. In a prison cell. I'm armed and have an army at my fingertips. What do you expect to do? I could just kill you."

"No, you won't. There remains a chance that I may agree to your demands. Or you can get your hands on a telepath who can filch the plans from my brain. You won't waste me as a potential resource when I'm absolutely no threat and it costs you nothing to keep me contained. You will play this through because now you are also intrigued and curious as to what I might do. You're arrogant enough to believe you can handle whatever I might throw at you." Lex gestured dismissively, wearing his nudity with the dignity of a king."You may go now. I will enjoy ruining your life and all your carefully laid plans."


	18. Chapter 18

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 18**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Hours had passed with Lex sitting tailor fashion in his bare cell. It was a small comfort that the cell was kept at just the right temperature to be comfortable in the nude, because otherwise it would've been rather embarrassing.

He maintained the pose mostly to give the illusion that he was thinking... or at least waiting patiently for his cunning plan to take effect. Which he was, so far, drawing a complete blank on. Boasting and promises aside, Lex still had no idea how he was going to be able to break out.

He'd determined various things about his accommodations, such as the fact that the material was completely non-reactive to any human bodily fluid or byproduct he could manufacture. He also determined that Dox, or at least his robots, kept an eye on what Luthor was doing and could most likely see him from any corner of the room. He'd also determined that water jets were extremely painful when wielded by said robots especially when they were being used to sluice down the room after Lex's experiments in excretions had stained the pure white floor. Whenever one robot would be engaged in cleaning, the other guarded the door, preventing Lex from getting past.

The robots were far stronger than human and the armor made it quite impervious to Lex's attempts to beat it into submission. In fact it tended to completely ignore him unless he got in its way. For instance, trying to punch it in the back of the head only resulted in being soundly ignored and bruised knuckles on Lex's part. Multiple such incidents had allowed him to determine that the robots only had a fairly basic AI. Not sophisticated enough to trick, but capable of improvising when introduced to an element outside of its programming. Although Lex suspected it was Dox making those additional decisions, Lex remembered that Colu had once been ruled by something known as the Computer Tyrants. He suspected that Vril Dox would not be inclined to trust artificial intelligences.

He wondered if his erstwhile captor were as bored as he was? Or was he still mulling over Lex's dramatic declarations from earlier? He hoped so. He wanted the green skinned bastiche as frustrated and keyed up as he was.

There had been no real indication of their destination. Excellent inertial dampening kept the ship from feeling like it was moving, but Lex could feel the tell-tale vibration of hyper-space engines folding and warping subspace into useful bite-sized pieces. He could only guess at their speed from the sound of the machinery. Assuming there had been no odd shortcuts, he guessed that their destination could be Oa.

Dox playing his bluff. The Guardians were telepaths as well, making the whole situation even more risky. The one piece of good news he'd determined was that the particular engine they had, making the specific noises it was making tended to leave a clear hyper-space trail for someone to follow. Assuming Mercy saw the display in the warehouse and understood it... or at least thought to get someone who could understand it, that would give any rescue team a better opportunity to locate him.

Which would render everything moot if the Guardians got their hands on him.

It was a waiting game for Lex. Either whatever rescue team the Martian and Mercy could put together caught up with them, or they hit Oa and he got taken into Guardian custody, where they would realize he was plotting against them... and he wasn't certain what they would do next, but he knew it would not go well for him. Or his homeworld.

Lex's brow furrowed slightly as he felt the vibrations from the engine slow and stop. They could have reached their destination, he thought, but it could be something else entirely.

The door pried open and one of the robots, the older looking model with a slightly wider brow ridge that Lex had mentally dubbed Odd Job... stepped into his cell. It held out one mechanical hand and a hologram of Vril Dox shimmered into view. "You have a visitor, Luthor."

Lex favored the image with a mysterious smile. He suppressed any surprise from his expression. He had to keep Dox guessing. That was his only advantage at that moment. "Do I? Right on schedule."

Dox's face remained impassive, but Lex noted a slight tightening in the Coluan's jaw. However weakly, Lex was getting to him. "A Reach Destroyer has pulled up alongside us and one of their Negotiators is requesting permission to visit with you."

Lex shrugged without getting up. "You hold the keys to the kingdom, Brainiac. If you don't want them to see me, you're welcome to deny them access." He already knew the answer. Brainiac might have controlled several dozen worlds through his organization, but the Reach had hundreds under their economic domination. While Brainiac might have been an emerging local power, the Reach had been established financial conquerors for millennia. The Manhunter database even noted that the Reach had been at it for so long that every invasion followed a strict timetable with millions of branching checklist items intended to take into account every aspect of their operations. Right down to the body temperature of the species being attacked. A race so good at conquest, they had made it into a routine.

For Dox to refuse would have been impolitic.

"You have access to their dimensional slip technology, don't you?" Dox's image asked furiously. "They are obviously after you... I can protect you, but you need to give me something to make it worth my while."

Lex rose to his feet the mysterious smile still on his face. He didn't even know what dimensional slip technology was, but if that was related to that 'stealth' technology Dox had mentioned earlier, which might resemble his slide tech, then that was a matter of some interest. What Lex could remember of them indicated that the Reach was horrifically protective of their tech and that their stealth technology was second to none. He considered himself fortunate to have remembered even that much.

He made a small negligent gesture towards Dox's figure. He chafed at having to act so nonchalantly when his every instinct was to get back to work, but that would have been counterproductive. He said, "You've had your chance to give your pitch. Why not let someone else step up?"

A slight tightening of the jaw and brow were Dox's only response before he nodded and his image vanished.

Before Lex there was a white flash as the humanoid form of the Reach Negotiator faded into view. Lex pursed his lips thoughtfully. The door was fully functional, but they still continued to use the teleportation. Obviously the Negotiator was arriving from its own ship, but the direct teleport was telling Lex that Dox was taking no chances. At least none that he could avoid.

The Reach Negotiator wore some sort of thin armor with a sleeveless long coat completing the ensemble. The whole was in shades of pale green and black, but dotted with white circles that Lex suspected were ornamental, but could just as easily be weapon mounts. The helmet was segmented and open faced, giving Lex a clear view of the being's face, which was the same shade of pale green as portions of the armor. It had no nose, indistinct lips and bright yellow eyes. He carried a rod-shaped object with a bulbous head that seemed to be a short cane. Lex noted some sort of lens at the end of the rod. It could have been ornamental, but Lex suspected the device had more functions than that.

"Greetings, Lex Luthor of Terra! I am the Reach Negotiator, those in my caste are known by our function and I am afraid I cannot offer you a personal name"

"Quite alright," Lex said with a smirk.

Despite the mouth and the eyes being the entirety of its broad, flat face, it remained surprisingly expressive. He smiled broadly, tossing the cane into his left hand and leaning on it as he strode towards Lex, extending his right hand. There was an air of jaunty, manic affability that put Lex in mind of a used car salesman and if he hadn't been on his guard already, that would have done it for him.

"I believe this is how your particular culture conducts greetings?"

Lex took his hand and shook it tentatively, making note of how the material felt under his hands. Stiff, but slightly yielding. A quicker squeeze confirmed that the material hardened under pressure. He suspected the color also gave it some energy absorption properties. Defensive material, but not exactly a full battle suit. A sensible precaution when meeting a "hardened criminal" like himself.

"Yes. How can I help you?" Lex asked with enforced nonchalance. As though he always met with people naked.

The Reach Negotiator flicked his glance down then back up to Lex's face. "Oh, no, no, no. This will not do. It would be rude of us to continue this meeting with you at such a major psychological disadvantage."

Lex shrugged, "Well, there isn't much I can do. Dox has my clothing in custody and refuses to provide me with replacement."

The Negotiator made little clucking noises in the back of his throat and said, "That will simply not do. Coluans are quite well known for being rude cold fish. I cannot abide such cruelty and wanton pettiness." He gave his cane a wave and Lex noted with some interest how his fingers played on the length of the device. The lens at the tip glowed lightly and suddenly some sort of cloth appeared in mid-air and began to flutter down.

Lex reached out to grab it and noted that it was some sort of one-piece black and blue garment. It had come into view as a whole and had been folded. There was a slight antiseptic smell to it. The Reach equivalent of mothballs, Lex reasoned. He suspected that the clothing had been teleported in from a storage cabinet on the Destroyer rather than constructed on the spot.

The Negotiator was flaunting a teleporter in front of Lex's face. He didn't know whether he was being underestimated or this was a normal show of condescension.

The cloth was thin, but felt durable in Lex's hands. He suspected it was of the same resilient material that comprised the Negotiator's armor. On the one hand, Lex felt some gratitude for the clothing, but this put his guard up even further. Anyone this solicitous wanted something. The Negotiator was doing a terrible job of hiding it, but Lex suspected that could have been some sort of cultural difference. Perhaps for his own people he was being subtle.

But that little display gave Lex something further to think about. The Negotiator was quite happy to ignore Brainiac's rules. Including the sensible ones, just to prove his superiority. Perfect. He spoke, seeking to goad the Negotiator to prove itself further. "Aren't you worried you're defying Dox's orders regarding my state of undress?"

The Negotiator gave a negligent gesture, waving its cane dismissively. "Vril Dox is small fish in an even smaller pond. He can give the Reach no orders."

"I'm certain he would be... annoyed by your informing me of that."

"Not at all. Currently all surveilance into this room has been deactivated." The Negotiator smiled broadly. "We value our privacy."

"Really?" Lex asked, still fingering the material of the clothes but making no move to put them on. With deliberate care, Lex looked directly at the camera, then hawked and spit on the floor nearest to the door.

The Negotiator recoiled. "What is-?"

Lex smiled, as five seconds passed with the door remaining steadfastly closed. The robots responded to such events within four seconds. "I was just making sure we really weren't being watched." He plopped back down onto the bunk-like extrusion from the floor, settling the cloth around his lap without actually putting it on. Sheer arrogance. Lex knew what he had to do, he merely needed an opportunity. "Now, how can I help you?"

"I am actually in a position to help you, Lex Luthor of Terra." Again the slimy, smarmy used-car salesman smile. Lex noted the undertone of contempt beneath the smug saccharine. Yes, Lex thought to himself, keep thinking that the primitive human doesn't even know how to put clothes on.

"Is that so?" Lex asked. "I have all the comforts of home right here."

"This is sarcasm, yes? Sorry, I'm not very familiar with your species."

"Quite alright," Lex said, waving the apology off, gently taking control of the conversation. "You had a bounty put on me for ten million on a charge of... professional rudeness?"

"Actually it was for 'questioning in connection with' a charge of professional rudeness. You personally are not being charged."

"So it's essentially a ploy to get me into your custody to talk to me?" Lex dropped his eyes, affecting to look embarrassed. His hands picked at the cloth in his lap, twisting it idly in his hands.

"You could say that."

"Exactly like Colu's charges."

The Negotiator made another negligent gesture with the cane. "Not at all. Dox seeks to use criminal charges as a means to blackmail you into giving him what he needs, whereas the Reach are seeking to reach out to a fellow sentient with a mutual goal in the hopes that we can be of benefit to one another."

Lex smirked, crossing his legs under the cloth and settling his hands around his knee, as though he were still in one of his tailored suits. "And what mutual goal do you mean?"

"It is our understanding that you are engaged in a campaign against the Oan Guardians." The Negotiator replied. "We are always happy to see young new worlds engaging in the fight against Emerald Oppression, but surely you can see your world is not equipped with the resources necessary to win such a battle."

"Emerald Oppression, you say?" Lex smirked. "How did you even know I was doing this?"

"Some of our client worlds received your messages. The video codec you were using to disguise your appearance was an obscure Manhunter one that we had in our possession." The Negotiator gave every appearance of being impressed. "Starting off each message with a secret that the government in question wishes to keep hidden, then explaining exactly how the Guardians have been manipulating their world was most well done. It is not often that we encounter someone who is as well informed of Oan duplicity as you are."

Lex inclined his head. "You are too kind."

"Obviously we want you to succeed in your endeavor. It's not often we see such a young race with such vigor and energy pursuing a lofty goal." The Negotiator smiled.

"And how would you be able to do that?" Lex asked, now intrigued, despite himself.

"We have in our possession a multitude of technologies that will help your culture reach outwards." The Negotiator gushed. "Currently, our records show your world to be pre-cold fusion and only possessing extremely limited inter-stellar capability. You don't currently have the infrastructure nor the technological training to handle such things, but we can provide your people with training and technology to bring you up to a level where you can face your coming challenges with optimism and superior firepower." Another patently insencere smile flashed across the Negotiator's features.

"How interesting," Lex murmured, his fingers working through the cloth. It still seemed to be little more than a nervous twitch, but Lex could feel his progress. "You'd offer us weapons and upgrades to our technological base to help us fight against the Oans, but what do you get out of it?"

"Well, on the one hand there is the satisfaction of knowing a young species has been given the opportunity to grow outside the shadow of Guardian domination, but our Empire was built on the backs of traders and trade agreements. Providing your people with the ability and opportunity to purchase material and technology from us allows us to open up a new market, while simultaneously doing our best to help you out. It's a win-win situation. The best kind."

"That does sound nice," Lex said, letting a bit of false eagerness creep into his voice.

"Oh come now, there's no need to be modest. Our previous surveys indicate that your world is rich in natural resources. We would, of course, trade fairly and provide you with the necessary ships and weaponry to allow you to better execute your Oan campaign. After all, it's not like your world currently has anything that could even remotely threaten the Guardians. You need what we can give you." The Negotiator added smugly.

"What resources did you have in mind?" Lex asked slowly. He'd already gotten an inkling as to what the Reach had in mind for Earth and did not like the image at all. It was almost exactly the sort of thing he would have done. "After all, we are a young and developing species. We need all the resources we have on hand."

"Well, we were thinking in terms of materials that you did not currently have uses for, but that we do. Our various industrial processes being more advanced have differing requirements that you could provide." Another smug grin. Lex was beginning to grow sick dealing with the so-called Negotiator.

"If you aren't interested in parting with your material resources, we would also be happy to accept superior examples of males and females of your species to serve as socio-cultural ambassadors, given opportunities to work closely with the Reach Empire and our clientele. Many of them have exotic tastes in companions and would be happy to interact with mammalian humanoids."

Lex had realized he'd had enough.

"Please, let me stop you there." Lex held a hand up. "You are attempting to negotiate with me under two major mistaken premises. First, you believe I am a representative of some sort of planetary government."

The Negotiator held up its cane, again making the same dismissive gesture. "Obviously you will not admit to it. Plausible deniability and all that, but I am certain that once we clear these Coluan charges for you, you will be in a position to take our offer to your gove-"

Lex interupted him, his voice gathering speed and power, "My world doesn't have a planetary government. I may have previously held a position of authority, but I am not operating under the auspices of any governmental agency. At all."

"That... that makes no sense." The teal-faced being gaped at him. "You... you are engaging in a campaign against Oa by yourself? As a private individual?"

Lex smiled and nodded, his fingers still hidden within the now-twisted and knotted cloth. "Yes, that sounds about right."

"But..." the Negotiator seemed stricken. "That would be insanity. Only a being of monstrous ego would even consider challen-"

"Guilty. As. Charged." Lex's smile seemed the perfect counterpoint to his answer. He rose to his feet, holding the cloth in one hand.

The Negotiator took a step back, confused at Lex's answer. He could tell the Negotiator was off-script and now had no idea how to react. "I can tell you never actually looked at any recent information about Earth. Just a geological and basic technological survey?"

The Negotiator shook his head.

"Your second mistake is in assuming we were defenseless. Kanjar Ro. Starro. Mongul. Multiple Brainiacs. The Dominion. Manhunters. Durlans. The Weaponeers of Quard. Solaris the Star Conqueror."

As Lex called out each would-be conqueror, the Negotiator's frantic finger movements pulled up a hologram from his cane and characters of Interlac scrolled past the image, "Defeated by Earth.", "Destroyed by the Terrans," "Driven off for the first time in recorded memory."

"I personally have faced down Darkseid of Apokalips himself." Lex never stopped speaking even as the Negotiator grew more and more baffled and the holographic images crowded close. "We destroyed War World. We defeated a Sun Eater. Our entire world rose up before the Mageddon weapon and struck it down. We stood before Impirex when all others fled before it. Our world has faced cosmic destruction hundreds of times."

"That's all ver-"

Lex leaned in close, blatantly invading the Negotiator's personal space, his grin a rictus of contained fury that even the Joker would envy and cut him off brutally, the holograms made it difficult for the Negotiator to focus on him. "Humanity survives and thrives because we're far smarter than we look. Smart enough to realize that you're planning on selling Earth sub-standard ships and weapons while stroking our egos about how powerful we are."

"We would not do-"

Lex raised his voice, talking over whatever else the humanoid might have had to say, "So that when our best and brightest are destroyed by Oa, it would be child's play for you to swoop in, strip-mine our planet to the core and take the best my race has to offer for whores."

There was stunned silence as the Negotiator tried to find something... anything to answer Lex's accusations with. Lex leaned back, seeming to deflate, as though he'd suddenly passed through his rage and come out on the other side. "I really must thank you for being as stupid as the rest of them were."

For a critical moment the Negotiator also relaxed, having misread Lex's tone as he'd misread their entire meeting. In that moment Lex struck. His hand whipped around, grasping one pant-leg of the garment that he'd been preparing. The other had been tied into a knot and the entire length twisted into a thick rope. It looped around the back of the Reach Negotiator's neck, tangling him up and allowing Lex to give his head a sudden, sharp downward tug, right into Luthor's rising knee.

On a human such a blow would probably have broken their nose. The Negotiator, being severely lacking in the nose department merely had a ringing blow delivered directly to his face. Disoriented and still entangled within the clothes he'd provided, the human was able to pull the cane free with almost no resistance.

As the tears streamed out of his eyes and the throbbing in his head eased he realized the situation he was now in. He would have opened his mouth, but his captor tugged harder on the tangled cloth and held his cane up in the other hand. The flat, narrowed tip pointed directly at the Negotiator's eye. All the holograms had vanished.

"Do not move." Lex's voice had gone calm. Almost casual. The tone a man used when discussing the weather, not tendering threats. "I promised myself I wouldn't kill any more people. I really did. I'm not too sure if you qualify as a person. I'm also not entirely certain where your brain is located, but regardless, having one of these," He waggled the stick slightly while still keeping it trained at the Negotiator's eye. "Shoved into your eye socket will no doubt be tremendously painful and possibly fatal."

"Please do not." The Negotiator quavered.

"I don't need to, do I?" Lex asked softly.

The Negotiator would have shaken his head had Lex not tightened the cloth further.

"The others on your ship... they're watching us right now, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"They do realize that if they try to teleport you away from here, in that fraction of a second, I will interpose the cloth around your neck into the matter stream and when you reappear it should be nicely embedded in your flesh and no doubt cutting off your ability to breathe?"

"They do now, Lex Luthor of Terra."

"Excellent," Lex purred. "You've got no respect for Dox or his rules, so I'm certain that against all good sense you decided to carry a weapon when you came here, am I right?"

"You are correct."

"Where is it?"

"You are holding it."

Lex smiled serenely, "I know this is a weapon. I meant your holdout. You must have at least one more. Important fellow like yourself? Surely you brought protection?"

"Chest pocket."

"My hands are a little full at the moment. Take it out for me. Hold it between your thumb and forefinger. Slowly." Lex emphasized the word with another sharp tug on the cloth.

The Reach Negotiator reached into his sleeveless long coat and produced something that vaguely resembled a 1940's serial ray gun in flat sky-blue tones.

"Lovely. Now drop it." There was a clatter and the weapon was on the floor. Lex's gaze flicked down at it for a moment, then back to the Negotiator's terrified golden eyes. "The cane and the gun will self destruct if you die, won't they?"

"Yes."

"How destructively?"

"Enough to take out this room." This seemed to stiffen the Negotiator's spine momentarily. "So you cannot kill me if you wish to retain use of-"

"Actually, you've just made your own death a viable tactical option." Lex smiled once more. Lex shoved the negotiator back against the wall. Soft as it was, there was little chance of concussing the alien, but the move put him off balance and before he could recover Lex whipped the cane against the side of his head.

He fell heavily, a small gash on his forehead bleeding green blood. Lex dropped the end of the cloth and picked the weapon as the Negotiator groaned from the floor. He took one look at the weapon, adjusting a control with his thumb that seemed to open up the aperture on the business end of it. He aimed it at the Negotiator, keeping him from moving as his other hand began to move across the almost invisible controls on the cane.

"What are you doing?" The Negotiator moaned, trying to rise to his feet, but another kick from Lex kept him down. "That is a very expensive and complicated piece of machinery, you primitive ape!"

Lex turned a mild smile towards the Negotiator. "It is quite sophisticated. Communications suite, ECM suite, cyber-warfare suite, holographic display, " He slid his fingers across a few more controls and a flash of light appeared in the air which faded into Lex's open-chested battlesuit shimmering into existence next to him. "Teleport controller."

"How did you-?" The Negotiator asked in confusion as Lex began to step into his suit.

"I watched you operate it, you arrogant little twit. It was perfectly straightforward." Lex grinned.

His display of nonchallance was spoiled as he awkwardly attempted to step into the suit, while trying juggle the ray gun and the cane. After a minute, he gave up and simply slipped the gun into one of the tesseract storage spaces in his gauntlets and slipped himself the rest of the way into the suit, before allowing it to close in around him.

"Much better." Lex preened.

However, even as Lex finished his struggles with the suit the Negotiator asked, "Why don't I just transport away this moment? You no longer have a weapon trained on me. You do not have me by the throat. What is to stop me from signaling my ship right this moment so that they may teleport me back and blast this ship into component atoms?" He was screaming the last, desperately trying to work himself up, perhaps trying to force courage into himself by sheer volume.

Lex turned to him with a mild expression, now fully dressed and still holding the cane in a gauntleted fist. "Because I terrify you. You have no control over me, yet you are still trying to posture and frighten me because I have managed to completely humiliate you."

The Negotiator's only response to that was to tremble harder in impotent rage and fury and terror.

Lex added brightly, "Which right this moment your ship is watching." Lex flashed a smile and spoke to the air. "Make sure you fellows catch my good side."

"Your world will burn for this," The Negotiator murmured.

Lex kicked the Negotiator in the side, pushing him into the wall, where Lex pinned him by keeping his foot on the being's chest. "Were you not listening when I explained who we've fought and beaten? I'm going to be busy dealing with the Oans first, but if you give me reason, I promise you I will make war upon you so costly that your Empire's economy will spend generations trying to recover from what I will do to you. You, personally, I will hold responsible. Your people will hold you personally responsible for bringing my wrath down upon them. With this data in mind, do a cost benefit analysis, Negotiator. Ignore your hurt pride. Look into my eyes. What do the numbers tell you?"

The Negotiator could only swallow weakly. "I... we will do nothing."

"Excellent." Lex waggled the cane at the Negotiator's face. "Incidentally, I noticed that you didn't actually ask Dox for his files, but just accessed them from his ship's computer without permission. I'm sure they weren't yours since they were written in Interlac. Very naughty, but that makes what is about to happen next much easier. "

Lex waved the cane like a conductor's baton as he triggered the controls. The lights within the cell suddenly dimmed and the almost constant drone of the engine faded to silence. His was smile bright and gleaming and predatory in the dim light.

Lex flipped the cane in his grasp. "I'm keeping this, but you may leave now." He took his foot off the Reach Negotiator's chest and waved the cane negligently in conscious mockery of the Negotiator's gesture.

He walked to the center of the room, now completely ignoring the fallen Negotiator. His armor gleamed black and gold in the dim light as he leaned on the cane. "I'm expecting a call at any moment."


	19. Chapter 19

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 19**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex was in the process of running a boot up scan on his armor while continuing to play with the Reach control cane. The armored plating was still gold as he hadn't yet been able to engage the additional energy slides.

He had a tactical scan pulled from the ship's scanners floating as a hologram above his head. He realized belatedly that he'd been a little too eager in shutting down the ship's power and engines. Then again, he could blame that on his unfamiliarity with the cane and with the systems of Brainiac's ship.

Hence trying to complete his suit's reboot sequence so that he could try and integrate the cane into his systems. The user interface, once one got used the tactile controls and the fact that it used base 64 math was very friendly. Almost too friendly. Lex glanced down at the still cowering Negotiator. He had a suspicion that the simplicity of the control scheme had been intentional. The Negotiator did not strike him as someone who could be bothered to read the manual. The cane's impressive array of software was eager to be used and seemed to be designed specifically to integrate with other equipment.

If the Reach were as secretive with their technology as they were supposed to be, Lex found himself wondering, Why did the equipment seem laughably easy to understand?

In between his troubles with the reboot, which seemed to hang on an unfamiliar control sequence that Lex was hurriedly trying to program around in the past few minutes, the scene in the ghostly hologram above his head did not paint a happy picture.

Dox had succeeded in bringing Lex to Oa. The ship was in a low orbit and Lex's stunt with the engines had caused their orbit to begin to degrade. There was still plenty of time before the situation became critical, but Lex was sharply aware of the time crunch he was now under. Not just from their impending fiery doom, but also until Dox took a proper interest.

The other interesting thing, Lex noted, were the ships surrounding the planet. Hundreds of vessels with varying designs. The cane kept helpfully adding little text windows with additional information on the ships which might have been of value to Lex if he'd been more fluent in the Reach language, but even without them, Lex could recognize a few of the designs. In the background was a soft stream of constant chatter on the various communications frequencies. Including ones his suit had no access to. He could pick out a few words here and there, but most were unfiltered and untranslated.

The placement of the vessels was decidedly unfriendly. The fleets of the various empires and collectives were arranged to keep groups of like-minded ships together, while still maintaining as much coverage of Oa as possible.

They were picketing Oa, Lex realized. No one was attacking, but it looked like only a matter of time. Nothing was coming in or out without having to pass through the ships. Lex couldn't spot any obvious harassment as various green streaks shot to and from of the planet, but it was no doubt a nuisance for the Guardians. It would also be the work of instants to close in those gaps and have the ships begin catching Lanterns within the range of massed ship fire.

There were also several dozen smaller ships that did not appear attached to any specific force. Observers possibly? Unless, Lex realized, Lobo had successfully sent out his messages. More distractions for Dox, even though he didn't need them now. He wondered if the Czarnian had come back for him already, but his space hog was so small that it would've been easily lost in the mass of ship signatures. Lex had a rough idea of how far they'd gone since they were at Oa, but he didn't think Lobo would make it back anytime soon.

He shrugged that off and tried to focus on what he was doing. His eyes narrowed as he realized that Dox had tampered with his suit. He wasn't entirely certain yet what the bits of foreign code Dox had introduced into his programming would do, but it wouldn't do him any good. Unfortunately, he also didn't have a backup of the firmware on him. He didn't want to risk what his suit would do with those foreign commands slipped in, so he was having to do it the hard way and manually chasing them down, without bringing the central processor of the suit up all the way.

At least it gave him something to do while he waited. He'd been expecting some sort of contact well before this, but there were a easily a dozen possible explanations for why the Brainiac had not yet seen fit to get in touch with him. So as he waited... he worked.

He glanced down idly at the Negotiator who was still half sprawled against one wall. Lex had dismissed him minutes ago, but he was still there. Lex finally grew tired of the morose expression on the being's face and asked sharply, "Why are you still here?"

He sighed. "I do not know. The Assistant Negotiator should have transported me back to my ship by now."

Lex shook his head, then turned his attention back to the holographic representation of his code. He'd made considerable headway, but there were still a few critical segments that needed to be cleaned up before he could boot up his armor in safety.

A small proximity alert from cane pinged that company was about to join them. Lex cursed and not having any other weapons on hand, Lex picked up the Reach negotiator and put an arm around his neck. Despite the interruption, he allowed the boot scan software to keep running, making the necessary decisions through the finger controls in his gloves.

The seamless door irised open and Vril Dox stood in the dim hallway, an energy pistol in one hand, the other jammed deep into his pocket. The robots that had been guarding the cell were slumped on the floor on either side of Dox.

"Alright, I will admit that I am mildly impressed." Dox said, his tone level, but his annoyance was clear. "Turn the ship's power back on before our orbit decays."

Lex smiled with polite surprise, raising the tip of the cane to press it against the Negotiator's cheek. "I was expecting you to call."

"Which was why you left the communication systems working." Dox replied testily.

Lex smiled and shrugged, "You looked like you needed someone to talk to."

"I suspect you didn't even really plan on cutting power to the ship, just using the Negotiator's teleporter to be on your way once you had your suit." Dox said with a nasty undertone to his voice.

Lex nodded once more. "Yes. But I couldn't help but notice that you decided to put in your own little modifications to it."

"It's primitive and crude, but not without some charm," Dox said.

Caught between the intensity of the staring contest the two men were engaging in, the Negotiator whimpered in Lex's grasp, prompting the human to tighten his hold.

Lex replied. "You were expecting I would either activate my armor immediately, allowing whatever code it was-"

Dox nodded. "It would've given me remote control over your systems."

Lex pursed his lips thoughtfully and nodded, "I expected as much. So, since I chose to do a systems check before activation, that delayed me sufficiently for you to get down here before I could get it working."

"I'd originally intended to let you stew in the dark while I took control of my ship back. It's not like you would have been able to get through the door, as it's on an isolated control circuit that can only be rerouted manually. I'm surprised you didn't just teleport out of the cell."

"Too much risk of getting caught in a wall or one of your robots," Lex replied mildly. "I couldn't find a ship's layout on your system."

"That was intentional, why make it easy for someone breaking into my system? So not being able to trust your suit's life support you elected to stay in here instead."

"Of course," Lex said agreeably, not showing at all that he was keeping an eye on his suit's progress bar in the corner of his vision as they spoke. "I was actually going to try and goad you to come down here once I was ready so you'd open your door and I could overpower you and take direct control of the ship."

Dox snapped, "Except, since you so thoughtfully left the comm system wide open, it allowed everyone to keep placing calls to speak to you."

Lex looked surprised. "Everyone?"

Dox nodded, "Several dozen in just the last few minutes. Interestingly enough, those individuals should have been trying to reach me at my main office on Colu, not in orbit around Oa."

Lex smiled slightly. "I suppose someone must have told them where you and I were."

"No doubt." Dox responded dryly. "But they wouldn't stop calling so I was forced to put the comms on 'do not disturb' mode, which also prevents me from making calls out." Dox's annoyance seemed to increase as he recalled the multitude of communications requests he'd gotten.

Lex winced slightly. "Ah. And you took a while getting here even though you proceeded directly-"

"Because someone also cut out the power to all the elevators." Dox finished sharply. "And I stopped by the armory for a few party favors to use in dealing with you." He waved the gun negligently.

"I do love a good party," Lex smirked.

Dox was not amused. "Taking the Negotiator hostage is not going to keep me from shooting you. In fact, I would be quite happy to shoot through him if it will allow me to hurt you in some small, significant fashion, since it is his fault that my ship is about to crash into Oa's atmosphere. Furthermore, I am a sufficiently good shot that I can wound you rather than kill you. I am telling you to turn my ship's power back on and return control to me or I will lobotomize you."

Luthor nodded, "I can understand your sentiment perfectly, Brainiac, but you are missing a critical piece of the puzzle here."

"And that is?"

"That the Negotiator's technology will react," Lex paused significantly, "Explosively, in the event of his demise. So it you try to shoot me, I interpose him. In which case his cane and his armor explode and kill us both. If you annoy me sufficiently, I snap his neck. Same result."

Dox seemed to think this over for a moment. "I can step back, let the door close and be out of range of the explosion."

Lex chuckled wryly, "Even if that would be enough for the direct explosions, the only reason the Reach haven't started shooting is out of fear for the Negotiator's safety. Once that is removed from the equation this ship will be a cloud of rapidly expanding hot gas."

"They would not be so stupid as to fire when the situation outside is so volatile." Dox gestured with his free hand at the holographic scene above them.

The Negotiator piped up in Lex's grasp, "It is true. They would not."

Human and Coluan glared at him for the interruption. He shrank into himself and mumbled weakly. "I was just trying to contribute."

"They're cloaked." Lex said cheerfully. "They seem to be quite practiced at looking innocent and frankly, they dislike you more than they dislike me. Well, this fellow might be of a different opinion," Lex gave the Negotiator another squeeze.

"I hate you both equally." The Negotiator replied. "And if pushed, it is possible that the Assistant Negotiator may choose to destroy this vessel, regardless of the situation outside."

"See? Now, the wanton slaughter of one of their Negotiators and theft of their technology could be considered a 'push'."

"Then we both end up dead. I can't see you pushing this in that direction." Dox replied.

"Then you're suffering from a failure of imagination. That you haven't shot yet means that you're not absolutely certain about what I will do." Lex grinned.

"I haven't shot yet because I hope to avoid having to clean up a mess." Dox shook his head. "I'm beginning to suspect that you may be irrational."

"Don't think I haven't considered it myself." Lex said agreeably. "Keep in mind, if the Reach do blast us into component atoms, the destruction of your ship will likely be attributed to the Oans, prompting retaliation from the rest of those ships." Lex flashed a bright smile. "That is an acceptable trade-off for my life. How about yours, Coluan?"

"Oh, come now, Luthor." Dox sneered. "This is a transparent bluff. It's obvious that you aren't the type to make a martyr out of yourself."

"You suspect it, but you aren't sure."

"That miniscule chance is the only thing that stays my hand." Dox said steadily.

"Then we're at an impasse."

"Quite. But it won't last forever. In about an hour our orbit will have decayed sufficiently that my ship's hull will begin to burn. From that point on, things will become exponentially worse, until we reach the absolute limit eight minutes after that, by which time it will be too late to save ourselves."

"Unless one of us chooses to trust the other."

"That's not likely to happen." Dox replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm irrational, remember? When we spoke earlier, you wanted to make a deal for Reach technology?" Lex asked, giving the cane a waggle. "Here it is, direct from the source. In fact, I'd be happy to also offer you a high ranking member of the Reach as well to interrogate to your heart's content." The Negotiator gave a squeak as Lex poked him in the cheek with the cane.

The Negotiator whined, "I'm not really all that high-ranking." Earning himself a sharp glance from Luthor and a smirk from Dox.

Lex soldiered on, "Unlike earlier, I am now in a position to give you what you want."

Dox scoffed, but the gun did lower just a fraction. Just enough for Lex to know he was on the right track. "You're in no position to provide anything of the sort as long as that Reach vessel is out there. Their policy for protecting their technology is quite... aggressive."

Lex gave the cane another waggle. "This thing is surprisingly user friendly, but given the level of intelligence of the users, I'm not surprised."

The Negotiator gave an indignant squawk that Lex silenced with another fractional tightening of his hold.

"It took me a few seconds to figure out how to disable your ship with it." Lex continued. "Want to take a guess at what else I figured out about it?"

"How to use the teleport functions and the holograms seem obvious enough." Dox looked thoughtful for a moment, then his jaw dropped. "You can do that do the same thing to the Reach Destroyer."

Lex gave a predatory grin. "Shall we make a deal, Coluan?"

Dox holstered his gun down and laughed. "Well played, human. Although to be honest, I'm only down here stalling for time."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yes. I was making certain that you were too preoccupied to notice." Dox replied as all the lights came back on. Behind him the two robots rose to their feet and aimed their weapons at Lex and the Negotiator.

"I've been programming the ship's systems to ignore the shutdown command the whole time we've been talking." He pulled a hand-held interface from his pocket. It was vaguely cylindrical and was covered in a multitude of buttons. "I have weapons and shields back online, so we aren't quite the sitting duck for the Reach Destroyer anymore. This has been amusing, but our standoff is at an end and I have the upper hand."

Lex frowned and released the Negotiator, who crawled into a corner of the room, trying to keep as far away as possible from the room's other occupants. Lex flashed both the Negotiator and Dox a dark look. He passed his thumb over the control cane once more and the display above them flickered out. "I hate you Brainiacs."

"This is a common sentiment, believe me. Most do not appreciate true genius."

"Oh, it's not that. I have a personal grudge against one of your descendants. Brainiac 13." Lex replied, still seemingly displeased at having been out maneuvered. "He traveled back in time and killed my daughter. I'm hoping to have an opportunity to kill you and perhaps wipe out your entire lineage."

Dox pursed his lips at that and replied, "I've already procreated. If you truly wish to destroy the Brainiac dynasty, you would be better served killing my son, Lyrl Dox. Also known as Brainiac 3. He has yet to reach adolescence and to the best of my knowledge has not yet managed to reproduce."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Now, while you have been an entertaining ape, I'll take the cane, if you please?" Dox asked sweetly, gloating slightly. The tone was belied by the fact that the weapons ports in the palms of the two robots began to glow brighter.

Lex held the cane in both hands for a moment, twisting it thoughtfully, then he allowed the pout to dissolve into his own amused smile. "I didn't think I'd be able to keep that up." Lex said.

"Keep what up?" Dox asked suspiciously.

"Stalling for time long enough for a clean boot sequence." Lex replied as the gold colored panels on his armor, shifted color and began to glow green. "You weren't the only one programming while we talked." Lex gloated. "Thank goodness, you love hearing the sound of your own voice."

Dox cursed and pointed, but it wasn't quite fast enough. The robots fired simultaneously at Lex's head and chest, but the beams splashed harmlessly against Lex's force field. The modifications he'd made while tied up on Lobo's bike greedily drinking in the energy from the attacks. Dox pulled his pistol out and added his own shots, but it made no difference. In the corner, the Negotiator screamed and desperately covered his head in his hands.

Lex laughed as he triggered another attack at Dox's control systems from the cane to crash the teleport denial systems just long enough for him to vanish from their sight.

Lex reappeared in empty space. The holographic scene he'd been observing earlier had given him a sufficiently good idea of how the various ships had been placed to allow him to reappear in a section of empty space. He laughed to himself, breathing deep of the air his environmental systems were providing. The gravitic systems kept him from experiencing vertigo, tricking his inner ear into believing he was upright, despite the complete lack of orientation.

Despite how crowded the space around Oa had appeared in the display, there were still vast gulfs of distance between the various ships. His new position gave him a commanding view of the picket line and the vast curving sphere of Oa. He had an excellent view of Dox's ship and knew from the cane's displays earlier that the Destroyer was just off it's bow, even though no one else had any clue precisely where it was.

Lex muttered to himself, "As escapes go... I give it a seven out of ten."

Those ships out there were keeping alert for targets roughly his size, but ones which would be radiating the distinctive emerald energy of Oa. Unfortunately, since Lex's power supply was partially being provided by the eternal flame back in Coast City, he would register as a Green Lantern if he desired it. He adjusted his force field to minimize his energy profile, allowing him to camouflage himself to some extent, but from what he'd been able to understand of the Reach's technology as long as he had the cane, they would be able to find him. He knew he could seal the cane into the tesseract chamber on his gauntlet, as he had done to the Negotiator's holdout pistol. From his admittedly limited understanding of Reach technology, that was enough to prevent them from tracking it and causing it to self-destruct, but he had a much better use for it than to simply have it be hidden away.

With a grin, Lex activated his communication system to contact Dox.

An irritated Vril Dox appeared in the corner of Lex's vision. "Calling to gloat?"

"Actually, no." Lex replied honestly. "I'm just thinking ahead. I don't want to have to keep looking over my shoulder. Clear my name of all outstanding charges and I give you what you want."

The line of Dox's jaw tensed once more. "You have no idea what I want."

"A technological advantage and the chance to stick it to the bigger galactic powers." Lex replied with a smile. "I send you the cane. With it you can disable the Reach ship's shields, weapons and propulsion. Then we can both be on our way."

Dox seemed to mull the idea over before he gave a sharp nod. "Why would you give up such a useful tool, unless." The Coluan's face broke into a nasty grin. "I see what you're trying to do, Luthor."

"Do you now?"

"You want me to take the blame for what's going to happen next." Dox said slowly. "Getting yourself off the most-wanted list is just a happy extra."

Lex affected nonchalance. "I'm offering you an opportunity to get what you want. That it happens to coincide with my own needs is, as you say, a happy extra."

"I can't remove the warrants as long as you're manipulating navigation systems."

"Are you still seriously on that?" Lex was amused. "That's not at all what I'm doing. I am defying Oa, but what I'm doing has absolutely nothing to do with navigation systems or navigation software anywhere."

Dox frowned, "That's impo-" His eyes widened. "That's insane."

"Ah. A light dawns." Lex said.

"Fine," the Coluan replied, coolly, his image shifted as he seemed to enter information into a terminal. "You are cleared of all charges across all worlds subscribed to the Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network. Send me the cane. I'll be happy to be rid of you."

Lex used the cane to tap into Dox's ship once more and found that the Coluan had told the truth. He didn't particularly care, but it kept the Reach off his own back and firmly on Brainiac's. He manipulated the controls once more and let the cane go, it drifted away from him for a moment, then vanished in a flash of light.

Dox's face in the communications window lit up into a genuine smile. "If you survive what you're doing, Luthor, never come into my jurisdiction."

"I'd be just as happy to never see you again."

Dox raised the cane into view of the camera, still smiling. "I've thought it over and I realize there's still a way for the Reach to be dealt with and yet still leave my name out of it."

"What do you-"

Dox's hands flitted across the controls of the cane. "Goodbye, Luthor," he said, with a smirk that Lex did not like at all, then closed the communications window.

Lex gasped in shock as the Reach ship shimmered into view, its stealth cloak suddenly deactivated. His suit's sensors picked up that the Destroyer's weapons and defenses were still fully operational, although their engines appeared to be shot. On the one hand, Lex could not help but admire the audacity the Coluan had shown, even as he was appalled as he realized what was going to happen.

He remembered that the Guardians did not like the Reach. At all.

High handed and self-centered as the Guardians were, their reflexive reaction to the sudden appearance of a vessel commanded by an ancient enemy of theirs was immediate and devastating. By right and by treaty, no Reach ship was allowed within a hundred Parsecs of Oa. That this one had dared to come within orbital range of Oa itself could be attributed to the Negotiator's short-sightedness and arrogance. Or he really did believe that Earth was worth the risk.

The risk had not paid off for the Negotiator at all.

Green beams of light lanced up from the surface of Oa. Lex watched with horrified fascination as the Destroyer's shields flickered and dropped momentarily. More control cane antics, Lex realized, as the beams completely devastated the rear section of the ship, shattering it into so much debris.

Even in space, Lex could almost feel the stunned silence of the crowded ships wash over him. Long seconds stretched with no one making a move, even as the shattered remnants of the Reach Destroyer's rear floated serenely past him.

He knew that the reaction would be. These ships that had been keeping silent watch over Oa, all of them having seen accusations and proof of Oan duplicity and conspiracies had just seen a ship among their number mercilessly struck down by the Guardians.

First the crippled remains of the Destroyer sent out blue beams of energy, piercing Oa's atmosphere. Then another ship. Then another. Then a third. And more besides. Dozens of ships suddenly opened fire on the Guardian's citadel surrounding their Central Battery.

The Green Lanterns who had been flying to and fro were now suddenly caught in the crossfire and fought back for their lives, striking at the massed ships with desperate speed, but also getting overwhelmed by the massed fire of the picketed ships.

It was madness. None of the ships were organized beyond the level of individual fleets as each empire and race had chosen to keep to themselves. This hampered their effectiveness as they ended up shooting one another and getting in each others way as much as their blows struck at Oa and her servants.

Lantern shaped satellites manifested above the planet, shooting wildly into the target rich environment even as an emerald canopy snapped into existence above the citadel.

The whole was beginning to devolve into a free-for all as the space surrounding Oa transformed into a complete war zone.

Lex could only scream in frustrated horror as his carefully laid plans to end the Guardians of Oa cleanly and quietly went up in flames and plasma bursts.

The picket lines were originalyl meant to increase political pressure on Oa so that when a Terran Diplomatic team led by the Justice League made themselves known, the relief at a way to defuse the situation and the distractions it would create, were supposed to allow Lex to carry out his final masterstroke and wrest control of the Guardian's power and deposit it firmly in human hands.

That scenario was in tatters now. Events escalated so far that the mere appearance of the League wouldn't be enough to quiet things down. In a small, distant way he also understood that sentients were being hurt. This didn't upset him as much as the fact that they were not being hurt on his schedule. Their pain was not being put to good use. He felt a small twinge at his lack of empathy, but it was ignored because he was just too angry to think straight.

He signaled Dox's ship, hopping to wrench an explanation for his actions from the Coluan, or at least extract some more information. Lex noted in his sensors that the LEGION cruiser had already departed in the face of the devastation it had sown. There was no response. Lex didn't really need to ask Dox for his reasons, they were obvious. Open war between the Reach and Oa would allow LEGION to swoop in and take "jurisdiction" of worlds shaken loose from the conflict. More selfishness. Lex snarled uselessly in the direction of Dox's departure. He was going to enjoy fulfilling his promise to ruin the green bastard.

Lex caught hold of himself. Anger was useless here. He needed to think. This was similar enough to a contingency he had planned out, but he needed to adjust his plans. He also had to find a ship to take him in as he was floating alone in the middle of a war zone.

One good thing about his captivity, he told himself consolingly. He had been able to modify his suit's radio to do sub-space broadcast. This far from Earth, the signal still wouldn't reach in any reasonable amount of time, but he'd pulled information on various repeaters, routers and transmission network elements from Dox's database, along with authorizations to use them. He had access to a communications network now. With it, he could get intelligence. With that he could work out the necessary logistics. All he needed were his troops and he could still win this war.

His mind was alight with thoughts once more. He could still get this to work.

He was still in the game.

The Oans were still doomed.

He narrowcast a signal to the Justice League Watchtower and spoke, "This is Lex Luthor. I am adrift over Oa and in dire need of pickup. It's madness out here. The Oans started shooting and now everyone else is shooting them and each other. The diplomatic mission is aborted, but we will need everyone capable of orbital maneuvers on standby."

An image of a bright green humanoid with red eyes and an overdeveloped brow appeared in the corner of his vision. "This is J'onn J'onzz, Luthor. The LCSV Moonraker is already in transit to Oa and will be at your position in one hundred forty three minutes."

Lex frowned in confusion. "What Moonraker?"

"LexCorp Space Vessel Moonraker." J'onn replied. "It was a prototype inter-stellar craft that you had built, that had been included during the Wayne Industries purchase of LexCorp. It had been mothballed, but Miss Teschmacher had it launched within an hour of your capture."

"Good job, Eve." Lex laughed. "How did they know to head to Oa?"

"They were originally following Lobo's trail, but somehow you convinced him to e-mail Miss Teschmacher your location several hours ago. They have been en route since then."

"Is Eve on board the Prometheus?" Lex asked worriedly.

"No, but Miss Graves is. She and Miss Teschmacher are looking forward to hearing from you."

Lex nodded approvingly. "Excellent. Please let Eve and Mercy know I'm fine, but let Eve know I'm going to need Junior. We'll need him to clean some of this mess up. I'll be gathering more intelligence until the Moonraker arrives. Lex out."

He opened his purloined communications array to its full capabilities and began running intercepted communications through various translators and decoders, sifting through them and seeking out the points where he could take hold and twist to his liking. He could improvise like mad when he needed to. He could still make this all work. He had to keep believing that.

O-O-O-O

_A/N: I don't usually do author's notes, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading. I was very surprised at the sudden influx of readers a few weeks ago, but very appreciative for all the encouraging comments. If it seems as though I'm updating a little more often, it's because of that encouragement. I work faster the more readers and encouragement I get. Hint, hint. I'm already working on the next chapter as I post this, so I hope you'll stick with me. _

_Lex's strange ride continues. _

_Also, much thanks to my pre-readers. They have been a tremendous help, especially as far as keeping me from over-complicating this. Y'all know who you are._


	20. Chapter 20

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 20**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex had his eyes closed as he allowed the information to wash over him. He had the gravity dialed down to the bare minimum for him to avoid vertigo, but just enough to push him in the direction he needed to go. Adrift in the midst of a warzone, his low profile and minimal energy consumption allowed him to pass through unmolested and untouched, drifting closer to his goal. He'd originally planned on simply waiting quietly until the Moonraker arrived, or perhaps drifting to the edges of the conflict to make pick up easier, but that was no longer an option.

Drifting quietly, with the suit and his atmosphere being kept at body temperature, save for the audio stream and flashes of light through his eyelids, it was almost like sensory deprivation.

Unfortunately Lex was all too aware that he couldn't really take the time to relax. Things were not going well and unless the ships of the various races got an opportunity to break off their assault, the casualty count would only climb. Most of the major fleets were keeping the full weight of their fire on the Central Battery Citadel, scattered individual ships were getting disabled by the orbital defenses and there were a multitude of situations where crossfires had resulted in localized battles erupting between ships. In fact, the majority of the casualties were coming from the isolated pockets where a missed shot ended up taking out someone else, which prompted another ship to go after the original shooter... like a badly scripted bar fight in a western. The Green Lanterns flitted through it all, shooting to disable ships, but getting overwhelmed by their attackers. The isolated pockets of infighting were growing, though. That had to be stopped.

The problem boiled down to coordination. The way the ships were arranged and the way Oa's defenses arranged themselves, it was clear to Lex that only he had the complete tactical situation. Individual ships and entire fleets just kept getting too far in each other's ways and no one was coordinating the assault on Oa, nor their response to the Green Lanterns. At the very least, even a defensive screen would spare some of the ships the damage of the orbital weaponry the Guardians had deployed.

Lex reopened his channel back to the Watchtower, allowing J'onn to reappear in his field of vision.

"Yes, Luthor?"

Lex spoke slowly. "The ships up here are slaughtering each other. Everyone's too caught up in the shooting, I don't believe we'll be able to stop them anytime soon, but I think we can at least maximize their chances for survival. I'm opening a datastream to the Watchtower."

"Affirmative." The green face took on an expression of concentration for a few moments before it nodded. "Real-time tactical of the Oan situation is on the board."

Lex nodded. "Get Malone in the situation room, I need your best minds on this. I can't spare the attention to actually do the planning and coordination myself,"

"Luthor, we actually do have some experience in saving lives." J'onn responded with mild exasperation.

"Yes, of course." Lex said in a conciliatory tone, "But you're also used to just running in and hitting people until they behave. At this point that might do more harm than good until we can get them pulled back a bit. Is Oracle online?"

"She is now."

An electronically filtered female voice responded as a small glowing image of a feminine wire-frame mask appeared in Lex's vision. "I'm here."

"My sensors are counting about eight hundred and seventy nine ships here. Luckily for us and them, their encryption and ECM are crap. I've compromised communications on six hundred and twelve of those. I'm uploading the handshake, encryption and pass code information to your account."

J'onn nodded, realizing what Lex had in mind. "You want her to use those codes..."

The mask seemed to smile, continuing the Martian's unfinished thought. "They aren't in the mood to listen to just anyone telling them what to do, so we make it look like the orders are coming from their own command structure..."

Lex nodded approvingly. It was good to work with people who could keep up with him. "In the middle of the battle, they'll be too distracted to ask awkward questions. I think with the numbers we can coordinate enough of those ships to keep them from killing one another and keep the Oans from taking out too many ships. If we can keep them contained to these quadrants," Lex gestured and sections of the image he'd sent to them lit up. "We'll be ready to deploy our own assets in the vicinity."

"Superman and the others are on standby." J'onn said.

"I've got my transport beacon for a slide port set up on my suit and ready to receive them." Lex confirmed.

"Lex, we would have to relay all of these communications through your suit. I doubt you're going to have the necessary bandwidth for this and whatever else you have planned." Oracle pointed out.

"You just worry about coordinating those ships. I'll worry about getting enough local bandwidth." Lex smirked, as his goal came within his field of view. He twisted around, allowing his feet to come into contact with the Oan defense satellite. He oriented gravity "down" towards his feet, keeping him on the large, lantern shaped device.

The armored panels in his suit glowed faintly, sheathing him in a thin shell of green energy, marking him as a Green Lantern to the satellite's security systems.

The satellite was roughly ten yards wide and built of a curious blend of technology and energy construct. Portions of it were simply built around generating and channeling the energy needed to create the rest of it. A fact that Lex was perfectly poised to exploit with his insights into the green energy that he'd derived from the Manhunters.

There were no panels, no screws or bolts to loosen, no simple way to access the satellite's inner workings, but those weren't necessary with Oan technology. Lex scooted down and pressed a glowing green gauntlet to the green material and felt it pass through with just the tiniest bit of resistance.

Lex's systems began to interface with the Oan device, using the command codes so thoughtfully provided to him by his moles within the Lanterns. It was the work of moments to take over the satellite and pass it the task of relaying the commands from the Watchtower. He tried to see if he could extend his control further, to outright stop the network of satellites from firing, but the intricate security surrounding those functions were too difficult to bypass quickly. He'd just end up calling attention to himself.

He grinned. On the other hand, the sensors were nowhere near was well protected.

"Lex to Watchtower. I've gotten my hot little hands on an Oan defense satellite. I've got it retasked to act as a message relay for us."

The pseudo-electronic voice of Oracle spoke to him. "Perfect. Just in time, we have an initial round of commands set up for sending."

"I'm in the sensor array. I should be able to spoof Reach signals to the satellite. I can't shut down their weapons, but I can have them shooting at sensor ghosts." he added.

"If you can pass control of those to me, Lex." Oracle said. "I can put them to good use."

Lex nodded approvingly. It really was different when one worked with real professionals. "Very good. Keep me updated."

"As soon as we're ready to deploy, I'll let you know." The electronic filtering seemed to have cut out and he could clearly hear the delightfully feminine voice at the other end. That was the one he remembered from the Mageddon incident. The one that had whispered commands and encouragement to the world. He felt his confidence bolstered.

The fact that he was using a LEGION communication network, routed through an Oan satellite in order to fake messages to several dozen different species amused him.

He watched the battle rage "above" him. He could already see the ragged formations beginning to take shape as ships responded to false messages.

He kept to his spot on the satellite until he was certain that Oracle's communications were being relayed correctly. He had an ear to the commands being sent out and he was amazed at how quickly she shifted between the various commands and idioms of each ship. If he concentrated he could also catch another voice relaying additional commands at the same time. Malone was on-site and working with her and J'onn. The Martian was a strange one, but Lex had some respect for the intelligence and wisdom the strange fellow could provide. He also appreciated that he was one of the few telepaths they had available who wasn't some sort of twisted psychotic or a gorilla.

He took advantage of his connection to the Oan communication grid and encrypted a call.

"Stewart, it's Lex."

"Luthor," a greenish image of an enraged John Stewart shimmered into existence before his eyes. "What did you do? What the devil is going on up there?"

He shook his head, "This isn't my fault. Blame Vril Dox. He made a Reach vessel show up in Oan orbit."

"Then get shot by the automated defenses," John said. "They weren't smart enough to realize that shooting was a bad idea in that situation."

Lex nodded, having expected that had been the case. "I'm working with the League on damage control for now, but what's the situation on the ground?"

"Bad." John admitted. "The Guardians are pissed, worried and very confused. They were mostly ignoring the blockade since it wasn't doing anything, but now the shootings started and they have no clue what's going on. We've got maybe forty or fifty officers on-site and another three hundred or so untrained recruits. Out of the available Lanterns on-planet, I've got maybe fourteen caught outside the citadel when the attack started. Sixteen setting up shifts to keep the barrier up. The rest are non-combat personnel, but they've got rings. The recruits are mostly half-trained, half-cocked and liable to get themselves killed it we let them out."

"Our people?"

"I'm on shield duty right now. Guy is with Kilowog evacuating recruits and civilians into the shelters under the city."

"Damn, I was hoping it wasn't going to come to that." Lex's eyes narrowed. "How many civilians?"

"About half a million, bureaucrats and ambassadors along with their families and staff for the most part. I don't think you're going to be able to stretch this out." John said with a shake of his head. "We don't have enough people to keep the barrier up indefinitely. If we start letting the recruits in on the rotation, we might last a few days before mental exhaustion becomes too much of a factor to ignore."

"That sounds like we might still be able to hold off on-"

"The Guardians just sent out a general recall and an all officers. You have another three hours at most before every Lantern in the Universe is going to start pouring into this sector."

"What are the odds that they're going to be stupid and charge in one at a time?" Lex asked without much hope.

John shook his head once more. "Not going to happen. When Salaak sent the call, he ordered them to gather at the system's edge and overall command would go to Raker Qarrigat."

"Never heard of him."

"He's the former Green Lantern of Apokalips. Solid tactician. Ruthless. The guy is so dangerous he makes parademons wet themselves."

Lex cursed, "We'll just have to hope we can wrap this up before we need to deal with him. Have you heard from Rayner or Jordan?"

"Spoke to them this morning," John replied. "They were just starting to get on schedule-"

"We don't have time anymore. Can you patch me through to them? I'm not familiar enough with this to-"

"I understand. Hold on."

The images of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner shimmered into view. Hal spoke first, "Lex, I was just about to call you. Kyle finished his list early, so he's helping me on the last five. We may actually be able to get this done in time."

Lex shook his head, his expression grave. "Sorry, Jordan. There's no chance of that now. What's the fastest you can get those last ones done?"

Hal flinched slightly, then looked to Kyle before he replied, "Three days, minimum."

"There was a reason I put the uninhabited ones at the bottom of the list." Lex said coolly. "Forget doing it cleanly. We can't afford to do this low-impact anymore. We're in a crash situation. You've got less than three hours."

Kyle looked annoyed, "Hey, we do it that fast you're going to end up with nothing but lifeless balls of rock."

Lex nodded. "That's acceptable. Time's up. We need it finished or there won't be any point."

Hal looked as though he were about to argue, but John raised a hand. "I'll get you guys caught up on our situation. Luthor's right. It is bad."

"Three hours, Rayner. Jordan. Lives are depending on this." Lex said urgently.

Neither man looked completely convinced, but he could tell from their inattention that they were silently conversing among themselves. Lex didn't have time... there were still so many details to handle. He switched his attention away from the former Green Lanterns and placed another call.

Oracle (or was that Barbara?) and Malone were working on getting the blockade ships into a position where they could disengage. Gardener and Stewart to keep the civilians on Oa from getting killed. That still left the dear, sweet Eve and Junior to make sure he could get everyone to stop shooting. Well that and screw over Vril Dox.

"Eve, it's Lex."

He could see the relief in her face as her image snapped into view in the corner of his vision. She was on a Bluetooth headset and she'd changed out of the casual over-sized T-shirt she'd been wearing when he'd been taken and she was in a formal business suit. She sighed happily, "Thank goodness, you're okay, Lex. We've been so worried." She frowned then asked, "Where are you?"

"Oa. Technically over Oa."

She seemed to crane her neck somewhat. "Are you in space? You're standing on something in outer space?"

He couldn't help but smile. She was seeing him on the slide panel. Even after her first alien attack at home, she still wasn't used to the Lex Luthor experience. "Yes. Are you at the warehouse?"

She sighed glumly, "Yes. It's a complete mess, though. I've got some workmen on the roof already trying to do a temporary patch, but between the alien crashing through it and then Mercy shooting through the floor and some of the support columns and the ceiling, they're saying it might be easier to bring the whole place down and rebuild from scratch."

"You already have repair men working-?" Lex was amused. No matter how hectic the situation, it looked like Eve was on top of it.

She smiled weakly and shrugged. "I didn't have anything else to do after I bought the ship back from Mr. Wayne and got the launch authorized. I also rescheduled your appointments for the next week and did the groceries."

"Good girl." Lex said approvingly. "Did the Martian pass on my message?"

"Yes, sir. Junior's on his way in, but he got caught in rush hour traffic, so he's got another fifteen minutes or so before he'll be here." She dropped her voice as though afraid someone might overhear. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He smiled indulgently and nodded, "Conference him in, please. We're in a rush. I'm going to need him to be ready to take an interview on a scenario six as soon as he gets in. He needs to get briefed on our story."

"Right you are, Mr. Luthor," She said, suddenly exuding cool professionalism. "I'm connecting him now."

O-O-O-O

Lex watched as the ships above him shifted and moved. The majority moved as he expected them to. Slowly pulling back, fighting defensively. Here and there broken ships and debris floated by. From his vantage just above Oa, still on his commandeered satellite, Lex truly did have a magnificent view of the battle and his sensors continued to feed him information from every corner of it.

This was one thing Lex was beginning to realize about trusting others to do their jobs. Once you'd delegated all the critical work to those who you knew would be competent to handle them... it tended to give you more free time to plan ahead. Too much free time.

He'd taken to broadcasting on the emergency command channels to direct rescue efforts because he'd started getting bored waiting for people to finish their assigned tasks. No amount of micro-managing was going to get things moving any faster, so he'd stopped bugging them. Also, it was fun making mortal enemies save each other.

Lex smiled slightly. If he'd realized this back in the bad old days, he might actually have managed to accomplish more than he had. He'd always been very hands on, but now he kept well back to make sure he didn't jostle the elbows of those who were dealing with things at his orders. On the other hand, he'd been a self-made millionaire in his twenties, President of the United States. And a respected and still unconvicted criminal mastermind. He was something of an overachiever.

His current approach had something to be said for it as well. Living gods taking his orders because they believed he knew best. Entire civilizations bending to his will. His enemies hovering just shy of the brink of destruction. Not the way he'd originally planned, but it was taking shape once more.

The part that caught him entirely off-guard was just how much fun he was having. All his plans out the window. Lives at stake. The freedom and dignity of the universe in his hands. Flying by the seat of his pants. Improvising madly with bluff, trickery and stolen knowledge. It was better than sex.

Almost.

Maybe.

Lex was embarrassed to think about how long it actually had been.

He promised himself a long leisurely vacation when all this was done.

He turned the audio back up, noting that Junior's interview was still going on. The broadcast was live, but Lex was adjusting when it would reach the ships in Oan space until they were ready. He glanced back up once more, allowing his augmented reality view give him the news. Far off in the right hand corner of his vision, he noted the metaphysical spatio-temporal curvature parameter that he had been monitoring was approaching 97%.

Sometimes good timing was just the product of good planning.

He smiled as the neon-lined mask of Oracle reappeared in his vision. "All ships are in the optimal positions to break off hostilities. Batman's issuing a few last commands to some stragglers, but I think we're ready."

Lex triggered the command to allow the interview to reach the blockade ships from the beginning. "I'm broadcasting to take the wind out of their sails. Have Malone and the Martian send the sub-orbital team out. They can take care of the ships we didn't have control over and see if they can calm the Lanterns."

He knew her real expression was one of surprise. "They're... I've got a dozen ships standing do- the entire Khund fleet just went to standby. Thanagarians are also reporting that they're ceasing hostilities til they can get some answers... they're keeping shields up, but most of them have stopped shooting." Oracle asked, "How did you manage that?"

"Superior spin control." Lex replied smugly.

"What are you sending them?"

Lex grinned. "A live interview."

"Of?"

"Me. Well, not exactly me. My duplicate."

"The one who was on Saturday Night Live?"

"Oh, you saw that? I thought he was hilarious." Lex chuckled. "He's talking to Zefarid Jemastan, a well-known and well-respected Gil'Dishpan war correspondent. Zefarid and his crew have been covering the Oan blockade almost since it went up. Junior is telling him and his audience that he is a surgically created impostor who recorded the messages that drew everyone here."

The unfiltered feminine voice was sardonic. "Isn't that actually the truth?"

"Yes, but he's also telling them that he was forced to do so at the orders of Vril Dox and his Reach allies." Lex smirked. "Considering it was Lobo, a known associate of Dox, who told everyone where the message came from, everyone's gotten very suspicious. The best part is that the interviewer's a telepath and Junior's feeding them a mix of truth and ambiguously worded statements so the whole thing is coming across as true."

"I'm watching it now. They're intercutting the live shots of Junior with live shots of you." Her voice turned accusatory. "You're posing on that satellite."

"I knew they'd be watching. It's all to throw more suspicion on Dox."

"You just put your foot up on that projection and you're posing heroically." Her voice was flat, but Lex could catch an undercurrent of exasperated amusement.

"Are they getting my good side?"

J'onn's voice cut through the conversation. "Luthor, we are prepared to send the sub-orbital team if your beacon is ready."

"Yes it is, go ahe-" He began to say but cut off as one of the stragglers above him unleashed a massive burst of energy.

"What was that?" Oracle exclaimed. "Your readings are showing it as a massive space-time distortion."

J'onn noted, "It appears to have missed."

"Whoever fired it is dead in the water. The ship's completely drained."

Lex watched as the cylinder of energy lanced out into the distance, moving almost, but not quite faster than his eyes could follow. "Who was that?" He asked tightly, a suspicion forming in the back of his mind. It was clear that the universe not only hated him, but was not in any mood to let him catch a break.

Oracle replied. "Rann space vessel, only one they have in Oan space. It's an undersized cruiser and doesn't even have a name, just a numerical designate. It wasn't one of the ones we were directing. We're lucky they missed, that shot looked huge."

The gravelly, bass voice of Batman cut into the circuit without video. "Luthor. The Rannians aren't going to waste their one shot. We need you to figure out what they just did."

Lex ran calculations and projections in his head, eyeballing the direction of the shot, and comparing it hurriedly to the telemetry his sensors fed him and it came to him in a single flash."I..." He started to say, but hesitated.

It was a weapon. That was so blindingly obvious he was certain Malone had figured that out. Lex knew it would completely destroy Oa. If he kept silent, perhaps someone else would work out what it would do, but they would probably be too late to stop it. The scale of the devastation appalled even him. He'd never used overkill of that magnitude, had he?

Even as he realized what it was and how it would work, he'd already begun to assess possible countermeasures. He'd even had the beginnings of a plan worked out, but he was asking himself... why bother?

He was going to destroy the Oans anyway. Everything else had gone very strange this day, why not let someone else have a shot at genocide? Almost as soon as the thought occurred to him another came on its heels. There were half a million reasons to stop it. Lives were at stake, but those lives that had nothing to do with him.

A number that large is simply a statistic. Lex's hesitation stretched longer as his thoughts chased themselves. Half a million gone? That was nothing. He would have sacrificed more than that for his vengeance. Or would he? He knew himself better now. He'd consciously chosen to move away from the callous manipulator he had once been, so could he really just stand by and let all those lives be snuffed out?

A small part of him answered with a resounding, 'Yes', but that was the voice that the Manhunters created. That self-centered, greedy, grasping, heartless bastard version of himself who only cared for what he wanted. He was better than that. He was stronger than that.

Beyond proving them wrong, a far more practical thought also occurred to him. He couldn't be sure this would kill them. That was the crux. He couldn't allow them the chance to escape into the Willworld beyond the Central Battery, like they had every other time. Weighing the chance to see them beg against half a million lives just made the decision easier. He needed to see them broken and groveling at his feet.

For that to happen, the planet had to still be there for them to grovel on. More than that another reason to answer came to him. Malone had asked him a direct question. He'd challenged him to answer. Lex's pride wouldn't allow him to not know the answer. He couldn't plead ignorance. Oh, he could lie if he really had to, but he found he couldn't stand the thought of pretending that he did not know.

His eyes narrowed as he realized that with that one question, the Batman had masterfully pushed him into a corner. Lex appreciated how well Wayne had chosen his catspaw. Or did he already know what it was and this was just a test?

No help for it then. The truth. And the lives on Oa would have him to thank when the survived what was coming. He sent a signal to narrowcast to John Stewart and include him in what he would say.

Lex's voice was level, but there was an undertone of tightly controlled terror. "The Rann ship just fired a zeta beam. From these readings, that ship's nothing but capacitors and a gigantic zeta beam projector array." He pointed to the distant sun of the Oan system. "They didn't miss. They were never aimed at Oa. It's been aimed directly at Sto-Oa almost since the battle began."

"Why is this bad?" John asked.

"As hot as they are, the outer layers of Oa's sun won't stop the beam. It will keep going until it reaches a sufficiently dense layer and teleport a chunk of that sun probably the size of Australia directly into the orbital path of Oa. I've worked out where they're bringing it back to and Oa is going to start interacting with it in seventeen minutes at an initial speed of 39 kilometers per second. That's only going to get faster once Oa's gravity starts accelerating it.

J'onn stated the obvious. "We shall need to ensure that does not happen."

"It gets worse," Lex continued, "That chunk will be teleported out from conditions of tremendous pressure. Once it's moved, all that pressure suddenly releases-"

Oracle whispered in awe, "It's going to explode."

"An undersized nova designed to crash into the planet. A stellar mortar shell." Lex said with a nod. "If the radiation doesn't scour life off of Oa completely, the blast of massively accelerated, burning hydrogen will be enough to set their atmosphere and the solid mantle of their world ablaze in the fraction of a second before the shockwave shatters it."

"Are you alright?" Oracle's voice was shot through with concern at the odd tone in Lex's voice.

He replied, "Their planning was exquisite. The math elegant. To kill a world with nothing more than an oversized teleporter and basic physics."

"I find your admiration of them disturbing." J'onn said.

The Batman's voice snapped out. "Can it be stopped?"

Lex frowned and closed his eyes. Of course it could be stopped. He already had a few ideas in that area. Most of them could even be implemented in the given time frame, but why was Malone asking him? They were the Justice League. They were the experts at the last minute save. The unexpected rescue. Malone, or as Lex suspected: Bruce Wayne speaking through Malone, usually came up with the tactics that stopped Lex cold when they'd tangled in the past, so why ask him? Well, obviously because he was smarter than they were. He thought faster. He'd put them through their paces in that past and now he could pull a save out for them, if that's what they really wanted. He knew it would be the right thing to do, but a smug part of him was still amused that they wanted him to give them the answer. They wanted him to save them.

It didn't even occur to him that he could've chosen to give them the wrong answer. "The primary carrier trigger for the zeta beam operates at the speed of light. Oa is about ten light minutes away from Sto-Oa. We have somewhat less than that to formulate a response. The Rannians are very clever, but I'm more clever by far and I have the resources of a Guardian cache world at my disposal."

Those he'd been speaking with traded dubious glances with one another.

"Martian, send every Kryptonian and Kryptonian analogue we have on Earth here now. Anyone else with similar levels of strength, invulnerability and space flight capability should also go with them. They're going to need them to move this bomb once it's defused." Lex said quickly.

Oracle asked, "How do you plan to defuse a mass of stellar matter the size of Australia?"

"Very cleverly." Luthor replied with a grin. before he continued. "I also need you to get me every high order magnetic manipulator we can find on Earth. The DEO should have the necessary records. I need them here in seven minutes to prime the zeta beam's destination area. I'm going to relay to you the deployment pattern on the big screen." Lex began to make some motions, but then stopped. "Actually, just pull it from my mind. I'm also sending you blueprints that I need Firestorm, or someone else with molecular manipulation powers to implement. They're going to need equipment and we don't have time to build it by hand."

"Working." J'onn said simply.

Lex turned to the neon mask in his vision. "Oracle, you need to locate Prisoner RMTN81503. It'll be in DEO or DoC custody, probably a storage warehouse, I just need to know which one. Malone, keep the rest of those ships in line. Last thing we need is them getting in the way while we're working. Stewart, you need to get everyone and I mean every single Lantern you have available down there and strengthen the shield on Oa, The chances are on the side of this working, but you need to be ready just in case. Contact the other Lanterns who are up here and let them know we're trying to save Oa, so they'll let us do our work."

He clapped his gauntleted hands briskly. "We have a world to save."


	21. Chapter 21

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 21**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

"Last few monopole nodes. Let's not have any screw ups." Lex said across the comm link, examining their handiwork from afar. His scanners were based on his slide panel tech and he was amazed at how closely they'd managed to match his plans. Then again, the Martian had pulled the designs straight from his mind and relayed it to the builders, so he should have been more surprised if they had not matched up.

They were working several hundred miles away from him, but across the vast gulf of space (well, vast only from a human perspective, from another scale it was barely any distance at all), he could still just barely make out the flare of Firestorm's burning hair and the goldish energy signature being generated by Captain Atom. There were four amplifier modules arranged in a square around the expected landing area. Each was the size of a small building and had a metahuman strapped into an energy chamber.

The equipment was separated by tremendous distances. Lex was further still. From his vantage he couldn't even see the equipment unaided, but they were there along with their precious human power sources. The fact that the whole thing had been created from debris of the battle in the past three minutes made the whole even more impressive.

Firestorm's voice held a note of affronted dignity to it, "Hey, we're League, Luthor. We don't screw up. Much. Not when it matters." He finished lamely.

Lex bit down on a snide comment. There wasn't time. His attention flicked to the chronometer display in his field of view. They were cutting this very close now.

"These molecular structures don't make any sense-" Atom's deeper voice came over the link.

"They don't have to make sense to you. I'm basing these designs off of New Gods tech I only barely had a chance to study."

"My confidence is at an all-time high." Firestorm quipped.

"If you have time to make jokes, you have time to work. We need these finished in the next three hundred thirty seven seconds or there won't be much point."

"Calm down, sir." Captain Atom made the 'sir' sound like a curse. The military man still hadn't entirely forgiven Luthor for some of the orders he was given during his tenure as Commander in Chief. "You can understand we're a little concerned given how much is at stake."

"I know exactly what's at stake, but you try designing a continent-sized magnetic containment bottle designed around amplifying metahuman abilities in under three minutes and see how confident you are of your results."

There was silence on the com link for a second before Lex snapped, "Just get back to work."

"Wow. He sounded almost exactly like Bats." Firestorm responded

Atom's only response was a wry chuckle.

Lex sputtered, unable to spare the necessary brainpower for a witty response, but he could see that they had turned their attention back to manufacturing the necessary components in the necessary places.

Oracle's smooth voice whispered into his ear. "That was a compliment, by the way."

His grip tightened on the metallic oval in his hand. The device, otherwise known as a techno-seed, was grooved and lined with patterns of circuitry and Lex was not entirely comfortable with handling it. Even though he knew in theory that the techno-seed, also known as RMTN81503 was completely inert until it was encased in energy.

Oracle had pulled the location for it from DEO files. She'd done it so quickly that he was certain she'd had a back door into their system and must have consulted with it regularly. It was good luck that the records had been quite precise about its location, right down to the shelf it had been on. Lex had been prepared to teleport the whole building there if he had to, instead a quick transport later, he'd had it tucked under one arm like a football. One more part ready and waiting.

Lex glanced off to the side where the group he'd mentally dubbed 'Team Grunt' floated patiently waiting for their part of the plan. They'd flashed into position a minute ago on the League's teleporter, using his suit's slide portals as relay beacons.

He'd cut them out of his voice circuit since he didn't really feel like talking to any of them. He was busy and did not need to be distracted by his need to mercilessly taunt big blue. The Martian had the rest of the plan from his mind and would finish their briefing.

They'd been issued breathing gear and communications gear, but not much else. All of them were sufficiently resilient to survive prolonged exposure to deep space, although Lex could see signs of chills on a few of the younger members of the group.

Superman, Superboy, Powergirl, Black Adam, Captain Marvel, his younger counterpart and the Polly-anna-ish one he always assumed was Marvel's sister. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and the one who used to be Wonder Girl were there as well. He could never remember what the woman called herself now. Troika? Something like that. He wasn't entirely sure where the Amazo had come from and did not want to think about how they'd convinced Bizarro to help. Probably by telling him they would be destroying Oa. Captain Atom would be joining them once his stint on construction work was completed. The one that Lex had to keep pulling his attention away from was the new Supergirl in the belly baring top. She reminded him far too much of his ex- well, he supposed 'girlfriend' applied even when the being in question had been a shape-shifting artificial human.

It was a strange and mismatched group, but they would do for what he needed.

He worked on the field programmings in parallel with Captain Atom and Firestorm's construction work. He wished he'd had time to really test the design, but the theory was sound. The rest of the so-called geniuses with the JLA weren't much help.

The interview broadcast, which he'd been allowing to run in the background caught his attention. Jemastan's network news ship, which had been ghosting the edges of the battle was also the closest to the disabled Rannian ship and had rescued their crew.

He half-listened and cursed, before he called Oracle back on. "Are you watching the feed from that war correspondent?"

"No, I was monitoring your power couplings." She replied.

"Their ship just rescued the crew of the Rannian cruiser." He replied. "They're interviewing the Rannians. Their captain just told everyone what they did to Sto-Oa."

She paused for a moment, no doubt to catch up with what he'd been watching. She finally said. "The rest of the blockade fleet is seeing this, aren't they."

"I stopped filtering them out after the ships started standing down." Lex said, clearly annoyed. "Make sure Malone keeps any panic conta-."

She cut him off, "Already on it... damn."

Lex cursed under his breath. That could seriously undermine their ability to keep this from exploding into violence once more. "What's the reaction?"

"The guy they're talking to is a fanatic, but he's claiming they have independent confirmation of all the data provided in what they're calling the Dox broadcasts. The blockade fleet's not sure what to make of it. Some of them are relaying it back to their governments to get some sort of official stance. No one wants to make a move, but the Tamaranians of all people are goading everyone else to start attacking again." Lex wasn't surprised. Lex had found that the Tamaranians lost their entire original home-world to Guardian manipulation and had told them as much. "A few are panicking and want to get as far away as possible.

Lex glanced "up" relative to himself and noticed that a few of the ships were already starting to break off and leave the vicinity. "That's sort of good, then?" Lex said tentatively, idly noting that his construction team were getting close to done. One less thing to worry about.

"Yes and no. All sorts of debates are breaking out. Looks like Rann violated some sort of weapons test ban treaty... and they're arguing that they weren't testing. Thanagarians are talking sanctions for Rann. At this rate the fighting's going to start spilling out of the local area."

He grit his teeth and shook his head. Too many details to deal with all at once. His attention flicked to the Green Lanterns in the area and felt annoyance. They could have saved them so much time if they'd actually helped, but they'd pulled back to join the other Lanterns gathering at the edge of the system. Orders from Oa, no doubt. More details. He glanced at the chronometer. Two hundred fifteen seconds.

Oracle's voice cut into his thoughts, "Don't worry about it now. Let me and Batman deal with them."

The relief was evident in his voice. He had to trust other people. It was the only way this would work. "Good. Thank you."

"I'll keep you updated, but we'll handle it." She replied.

He switched channels to the containment team before he got further distracted. He thought of them as Team Magnet. It was ironic that they'd had a much more difficult time finding members for this team than it had been for Team Grunt. The Martian had only been able to locate two magnetic manipulators in the time they had and two electrical manipulators who could control magnetic energy to a limited degree. Of the four, three had been guests of the Department of Corrections, which was why they'd been easy to find.

He pulled up the individual members in his display. Examining the two men and two women briefly before he made a general broadcast to them. "Is everyone ready?" He asked.

Black Lightning merely nodded. Unlike the other three, he had been in the League files rather than in custody. The man was almost painfully noble and Lex wasn't worried about his doing his part.

Livewire, a chalk-white woman with electric blue hair, said cheerily, "Just have my five million ready, Lex." Her voice was pleasant to listen to, but that wasn't too surprising as she'd been one of his favorite shock jocks back in the day, who'd made a living out of bashing Superman on a regular basis.

"It'll be in your Swiss bank account before you know it." Lex said paternally on a private line to her. She'd been the next simplest to motivate. Five million dollars against half a million lives? Cheap at twice the price.

His magnetic meta-humans however were another story. After his question they'd both began babbling incoherently at him and Lex had only caught a few words here and there to give him an idea as to their state of mind.

He suspected there was something inherently dangerous about manipulating magnetic fields for humans. The only ones they'd been able to locate had both been undergoing extensive therapy to deal with their issues. The pun "bipolar" had occurred to Lex far too often in this instance to ignore.

Doctor Polaris was ranting about Neil Emerson, his other personality coming back from hell. Magenta on the other hand was demanding to know where the Flash was. Lex cursed under his breath and shot a message to the Martian through the comm link. "Soothe them. I could probably talk them through this, but it'll take too long."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, Luthor."

"Your comfort will not matter to the people on Oa in the next eighty six seconds." Lex snapped back. His tone softened. "If it'll make you feel any better, use what I would've said. Pull it from my mind. I've worked with Polaris before and Magenta's got a fairly obvious obsession."

"You are trying to mollify me, but it is as you say." The Martian replied coolly. Lex felt ghostly fingers pick through his mind as brief impressions of a conversation with both meta-humans flitted through in a half-memory. They needed to be ready the moment the equipment was ready.

Almost on cue, Captain Atom's voice called out to Lex on the construction channel, "Done!"

Lex checked with his chronometer. "Forty three seconds to spare. Good work. Get back over here. I'm priming the bottle." Lex replied. He raised a hand, tying somatic gesture controls into the complex startup sequence.

The babbling on the open channels tapered off and Lex noted the sharp and sudden increase of electromagnetic energy within the zeta beam reentry zone. Captain Atom and Firestorm were being bathed in a storm of electromagnetic energy, but they were tough enough to survive it until they reached the edge of the area. At the very least Captain Atom should be able to absorb enough energy to protect the younger hero.

He smiled grimly. Once Magenta and Polaris reached a certain level their powers and his equipment would begin feeding off of each other, using Livewire's and Black Lightning's energies to amplify the power of the containment field. Atom and Firestorm exited the field just as the deadline for the field to be primed passed.

Zero count.

They now had one hundred eighty seconds until the actual arrival of the stellar mass. Which would just just barely be enough time to have the field steadied and applying the necessary pressure. He promised himself that once this was all done, Polaris and Magenta would receive the best treatment money could buy, or create. It would be the least that they'd deserved. There was a flitting sensation of approval at that thought.

Lex spoke sharply to the Martian, "You've done what you had to, now get out of my head."

He glanced up and caught the glare Superman was directing at him. Lex met it without flinching and after a moment, the Kryptonian looked away. Lex allowed himself a small sneer of victory. Just a small one.

The power within the seemingly empty space continued to build steadily. Lex's augmented reality display overlaid the lines of magnetic force comprising the containment field. It didn't need to hold for very long. It just had to hold for long enough. He switched viewpoints and watched as the fabric of space-time within the reentry zone began to deform heavily.

Ninety seven seconds to go.

The tell-tale flashes of color told Lex exactly what was about to happen. Even as he watched the audio stream from the interview caught his attention again.

"... you can do nothing! The Guardians and their tools are doomed! My people will not see another generation thanks to them and so we return the favor. Their time on this plane of existence is at an end! We have calculated it! Their destruction has been foretold by science!" Thus ranted the bald, spitting Rannian in his sweat-stained red and white uniform. Below his image scrolled Interlac text that identified him as "Commander Vadar Delko: Rannian Science Zealot and Genocidal Maniac." If nothing else, the Gil'dishpan's network was being known for being bluntly honest.

The interviewer, who resembled a flattened tube worm in a floating bubble spoke in a synthesized voice that had been smoothed out to a cultured polish. "You are not concerned then by the reports that there are still considerable numbers of civilians on Oa?"

Commander Delko gestured dismissively, and Lex noted idly that his hands were bound. Just off-camera, a Thanagarian Hawkman was not quite visible. The Rann were obviously in custody, but some leniency had been allowed in the interest of ratings. "They are acceptable casualties. They sought to suckle upon the Guardian teat then let them pay the same price! No shield their soldiers can create... no defense they can muster will stop our vengeance."

"And the actions of the humans led by Lex Luthor?" Lex found it amazing how expressive something so completely non-human could be. The image cut to a live one of him floating in space, Team Grunt behind him. He hadn't had a chance to pose heroically, but they did a good job catching his profile.

Lex allowed himself a brief moment of amusement on realizing that somehow the media had gotten the impression that he was in charge. Junior had been properly coached and could have dropped the right hints here and there, but the journalist had struck him as having a good eye for detail and probably had figured it out on his own.

As Lex mused, the Rannian seemed to consider a reply. "They are as much victims as the Rann are. We applaud their rescue efforts and while we cannot condone their seeking to save this blight upon the cosmos, we acknowledge their nobility in seeking to do so. This universe will be a poorer place when our vengeance explodes and takes them all with it."

Lex smiled grimly. Not if he had anything to say about it.

The Gil'dishpan seemed as dubious as it's complete lack of a face would allow. "You do not believe there is any way that the Oans could be saved?"

"The time of the Guardians as a species is almost at an end. It is science. There is no arguing with science." The Rannian replied serenely.

Lex laughed. "Damn straight." He glanced up as space began to twist itself into a horrific knot. Forty seconds to go. "Except my science is better than yours."

He smiled broadly as Oracle's voice whispered into his ear, "Stellar mass is returning to real space in three seconds. I hope this works."

"Didn't you hear the interview?" He replied to her, raising the hand that held the techno-seed up as though in welcome and declared aloud, "There is no arguing with science! Phase one is a go!"

The Rannian vengeance, the stellar mass from the heart of Sto-Oa appeared with shocking suddenness, space twisted and tore. Even from the distance Lex could feel the heat radiating from the massive chunk as it flashed into existence. Without his field, he was certain he'd be boiling. He noted that the capes on a few of Team Grunt's members began smoldering immediately.

From the distance, Lex had difficulty appreciating how big it was. He had the readings for it's mass, for it's volume... but those were numbers. Seeing the building sized magnetic amplifiers reduced to tiny near-invisible pinpricks in perspective against the green-gold of the stellar mass just drove home the immensity of the task before him. It filled up the majority of his field of view, far too close to get a feel for it's full size.

Oracle's voice spoke urgently, "Magneto-compression field is online. Active containment is holding. We're getting some pressure spikes, but it's stabilizing..." she paused for a moment then added. "Not so good for Magenta and Polaris. Blood pressure's way too high and still rising."

"Understood." He replied and sighed. He wished they didn't have to hold out so long, but conditions needed to be at the optimal before he could proceed to the next step.

The news broadcast caught his attention once more. Lex could almost feel the shock and awe in the journalist's ship. He savored it and was certain the reaction on the other ships of the former blockade fleet were much the same. Even better, the whole thing was still broadcasting live.

He shifted his attention a bit more to the Rannian zealot's horrified screaming, "Impossible!" repeatedly, as he desperately tried to deny what he was seeing. The Gil'dishpan tried to talk over him, describing what he saw.

It was rather easy to sum up. A chunk of the Oan sun, despite every indication that it should, was failing to explode in a fairly spectacular fashion.

Their makeshift preparations had stopped the explosion for a few moments, but Oa was still hurtling towards it at tremendous speed. Lex noted with satisfaction that the entire planet was now glowing the bright emerald green of ring constructs and a Green Lantern symbol was emblazoned over the entire world. At least Stewart had gotten them prepared in case something happened to go catastrophically wrong with Phase two or three.

Contained though the stellar mass was, it was still too volatile and too hot to be moved. Lex could also see the bio-readings from the two electrical and two magnetic meta-humans and it did not paint a pretty picture. There was no way for the mass to cool down sufficiently to be moved before someone's heart gave out.

Fortunately, Lex had already planned for that. Hence, the techno-seed Prisoner RMTN81503, otherwise known as Brimstone. Technically he hadn't stolen it, since the techno-seed did not officially exist. A UN resolution right after the Impiriex war had made it illegal to trade in Apokalisian technology. Lex always did have a flexible view on such things.

He would have preferred to teleport the techno-seed directly into the center of the mass, but between the zeta beam residues and the strangeness in local physics being induced by the magnetic containment field, there was no way to do it without having to do extensive calculations to account for those factors. Fortunately the low tech solution would still work.

Lex sighted down his arm, allowing his targeting system to select the point of entry. Then again, with a target that size, missing was not a likely scenario. The suit still had no 'real' weapons integrated into it. At least not what Lex would consider some proper ones, but the extensive programming he'd done while strapped to the back of Lobo's space-hog had allowed him to creatively reuse some of his other systems.

Such as the artificial gravity which was supposed to augment his strength and allow flight. It was surprisingly simple to program the field to allow for a section of it to be used as a linear accelerator.

The techno-seed shot out of Lex's hand like an oversized silver bullet. Oversized from one perspective, but miniscule from another. In a fraction of a second, Lex's telescopic view revealed a tiny splash of stellar material as the techno-seed made impact.

Lex switched to a channel that included Oracle and John Stewart. "Phase two is a go. Bring Oan shielding to maximum. Techno-seed has been delivered. Now we wait."

Stewart replied, "Lantern Salaak is coordinating the officers down here and taking control of the shielding, I'm eavesdropping on the Guardian headnet and they are too busy trying to figure out what's going on that they can't be bothered to help save the rest of us."

"That sounds like typical behavior for them." Lex sneered.

John nodded. "Somewhat, but you'd think they'd do something. They're considering retreating into the Central Battery to save themselves, but haven't decided yet if it's hopeless or not."

"So they're waiting to see if we can save them?" Lex asked in disbelief. "Are they planning on taking anyone with them?"

"I'm getting the impression they're trying to decide if it's worth the energy expenditure. They definitely don't want to save anyone but themselves. A couple of them are complaining that their power isn't flowing like it should."

Lex smirked, "I'd be very surprised if it did."

"Also, be advised, Lantern Qarrigat is making his way in-system. I think he might be about to offer to help. The rest of the Green Lanterns that have already made it here are holding position. There's about a thousand of them so far."

Lex grumbled to himself, "Great." He said aloud, "I don't think he's going to make it until after we get the ball rolling. Send me his personnel file. I'm going to need a handle on the man if I'm going to talk to him."

He read through the information Stewart was passing to him direct from the Guardian's files, with half his attention. The rest waiting for the seed to do it's work. He hoped his metahumans could keep it together. He flicked back to Oracle, "How bad is it?"

"Livewire and Black Lightning are straining, but nothing serious on their end. Polaris is barely keeping it together, but Magenta's already beginning to hemorrhage out her nose." Oracle said tightly.

Lex shook his head. "No choice. Can she hold for another two minutes?"

"We have the Flash on her audio hook up whispering encouragement to her, she's might be able to hold it for that long."

"The Martian's idea?"

"No, Batman's."

J'onn's voice interrupted. "I am prepared to pull back Magenta, Polaris, Livewire and Black Lightning at your word."

Lex didn't reply, but simply watched and waited, the news channel was just so much background noise that took very little of his attention. They were bringing in experts to explain what they were seeing. Lex smirked as he saw the coloring of the mass begin to change.

Their expert was about to get his mind blown.

One thing that interested Lex about New Gods technology was how it seemed to accomplish the impossible on a regular basis. He wished he understood it better but he was as much an engineer as a scientist. An engineer would use something even when he didn't fully understand the underlying principles, as long as he could model it's behavior and get it to react predictably.

Such as a Brimstone techno-seed Drop one in a mass of energy, such as a nuclear reactor, a volcano... or a sun... and it would take that energy and begin converting it into a useful form. It did so within a predictable amount of time the could be calculated based on the total amount of energy available, with greater energy densities actually shortening the amount of time needed.

Lex could actually count on one hand the number of ways the techno-seed violated the laws of physics he was familiar with, but what mattered here was the end result. No matter how terrifying.

"It looks like it's working." Oracle said excitedly, drawing Lex's attention back to his telescopic, augmented reality view of the scene. The energy output, and radiated temperature from the stellar mass as a whole was dropping sharply. The energy was being internalized and being used to generate a body for itself.

Lex could not help but stare in awe as the green-gold of the stellar mass darkened to a dead, flat black that all but blended into the background of space. Sections of it cooled to a dull red even as the semi-globular mass began to reshape itself. It began slow, but almost before anyone realized it, stumpy limbs were beginning to grow out of it and the beginnings of a head were emerging. It took almost another minute before the form began to firm up, still stumpy and lumpy, but definitely humanoid. Hands that could hold a city on a single fingertip came into full form and began to curl with terrible inevitability into fists.

Lex flicked his attention back to the rest of his readings and the video feed. Polaris' eyes had rolled up into his head and Magenta's mouth and chin were covered in the blood pouring out of her nose. They were almost at their limit, but the magnetic containment field was intermeshed with the field the techno-seed was creating to reshape the stellar mass. They were superfluous and in too much danger now.

Lex barked out, "Martian, pull everyone out now! My suit's in direct control of the magnetic amplifiers. The techno-seed's almost ready to wake up."

Oracle whispered in awe. "I saw you do it. I know exactly what you were planning, but it's still..." she ran out of words. Lex could appreciate the feeling.

Off to the side, even though he did not have them on the comm channel, Lex knew that Superman and the rest of Team Grunt were murmuring uneasily. For all their vaunted strength, for all the power in that collective that could shatter a world with a careless shrug, even they were terrorized. Captain Marvel was not even hiding the look of stupefied amazement as he looked first at Lex, then upon what he had wrought.

Lex had just transformed a continental-sized bomb of stellar matter into a burly continent-sized bipedal, humanoid engine of destruction. The eyes in the black skull face opened and flared with terrible golden flames. With exquisite minutes long slowness it opened its mouth and a flare of energy larger than entire countries poured forth. From experience, he knew it was ranting about being a fallen angel and its service to its dark god. Usually accompanied by taunts and rambling about its own magnificence. Lex was glad that airless space was useless for conducting sound.

He shook his head and put his voice on the general channel. "Phase two's complete. The mass is solid. Team Grunt, phase three. Stewart, make sure the Lanterns keep the shielding up, this is where it gets very dicey."

Lex allowed himself a moment of amusement as Superman and those with him realized that they were 'Team Grunt'. Superman and Black Adam sent him sour looks before they all shot forward, crossing the empty space between themselves and Brimstone. Bizzarro took a moment to mouth, "Hello," and give Lex a cheery wave before he too flew after the rest.

Lex's attention was pulled away from their departure by a message. "Mr. Luthor, It's Mercy, do you copy?" A small window opened in his field of view showing Mercy in a rather nicely fitted white jumpsuit with dozens of pockets and some sort of ring oversized gasket around the collar. Lex suspected it doubled as a space suit of some sort. Clinging to her shoulder was Teddy in his own version of a space suit. Lex wondered to himself where it even managed to get that outfit? He suspected Eve raided the Build-a-Bear Workshop every so often for Teddy's outfits.

"It's about time you showed up," He said with a grin, "You took so long I had to rescue myself."

"I'm sorry, sir." Mercy replied in her professional voice. "I'll try to cross interstellar space faster next time." Well, perhaps not entirely professional, Lex mused. There was a hint of her off-duty snarky voice. He wondered why she was being so stiff, but realized with a small chuckle that she was embarrassed. He'd gotten kidnapped on her watch and her pride was a bit bruised.

"No worries, my dear. I've been keeping busy." He smirked, enjoying her discomfort.

"I've been listening to the broadcasts. We're still en-route, but only just got close enough to broadcast directly to you. Did you want to board the Moonraker, once we get there, sir?"

"I will in a minute. Things are still a bit busy here. I notice you brought Teddy."

"He's the closest thing to a navigator we were able to find." She replied.

"Lex," Oracle's voice cut in on the channel. "They're in position, but Brimstone's also starting to move."

"I'm on it," Lex replied cheerily.

On the display, Lex noted a slight narrowing of Mercy's eyes. "Who was that?"

"Oracle. She's with the Justice League. She's been helping me coordinate everything."

Mercy's voice said, "I see." Her expression said something else entirely.

Lex began making connections between his armor and the magnetic amplifiers that were maintaining position around Brimstone. As he worked, he noted Mercy's expression and gave an exasperated, "What?"

"That's the voice from the Mageddon incident. The one that talked to everyone."

"Yes." Lex replied distractedly.

"The one you've had a geek crush on." Her expression turned sly and impish, unable to keep her professional mask on.

"What?"

"Eve is going to be so disappointed that she's not your favorite voice in your ear anymore."

Lex sputtered before finally telling her with a sniff, "I'm in the middle of trying to save a planet here. We can talk more later."

She laughed and Lex was glad to have her smiling again, even if it was at his expense. He put her out of his thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand once more.

What Team Grunt was doing was slow. Painfully slow. Lex couldn't even tell just from visual inspection if anything was actually happening, although his instruments showed a definite, thought slow, acceleration out of Oa's orbital path, orienting Brimstone out of the system.

He could see the beginnings of twitches across Brimstone's massive form. Indicators of an intent to move. At that size, the energy fields that acted as its muscles and nerves operated at a crawl. He could tell it was trying to move and struggle against the motion, but its own movements were far too slow.

The flame blasts it could unleash were still fast enough to cause concern... but fortunately it couldn't aim them properly. Unfortunately an unexpected silent roar sent a gout of flame hundreds of miles wide and tens of thousands of miles long it wavered and scattered unpredictably, but a massive section of it lashed against the Oan shield, which flickered and recoiled, but snapped back in a fraction of a second. Lex cursed himself for wasting time on banter and focused. "Stewart, Report!"

"Over three hundred wills bent on keeping the planet in one piece and we're holding, but just barely. Some of that got through, turned a section of desert about the size of California to glass, but we got lucky. It didn't come anywhere near the Citadel and it didn't penetrate the planetary mantle."

"Acknowledged. I'm taking care of it now." There was no helping for it now. It would need to be quieted down. Lex completed the links for his armor to the magnetic amplifiers and activated them. He'd been hoping for an opportunity to test them, but there had been so many interruptions.

Lex had occasionally told Mercy that a true genius usually had more than one plan running at any given time and that any step such a being took was generally in furtherance of more than one goal. On the one hand, transforming the stellar mortar into Brimstone would save Oa, but on another level, showing the ability to create a humanoid that could crack a planet like an egg with a swipe of a single oversized fist would ensure that the former blockade fleet, and the governments behind them, would listen to what he had to say. After all he now had the biggest stick on the block.

But beyond those valid arguments was the one thing in the back of his mind that often drove Lex to do what he did. He wanted to see if he could.

In this case, Lex just wanted to see if he could make a continent-size speaker.

"Brimstone. I address you," Lex intoned. The regular transmitters on his armor might have served him well enough in communicating with the artificial being, but given its vast size and the urgency of their situation, he didn't want to leave things to chance, especially since a simple modification to the plans for the magnetic containment equipment transformed them into amplifiers. The largest plasma arc amplifiers in the history of the universe. It would be feeling his voice through every inch of its body.

As he waited for it to respond, Lex wondered to himself what it would be like to have that creature in an atmosphere while he ran some John Lennon into the audio input. He imagined it would be some of the purest sound he'd ever encounter... right up until the vibrations tore the planet apart, but it might almost have been worth it. Even without an atmosphere, the magnetic resonance being generated by the amplifier components was interfering with the local subspace, making everything he said through it audible as static on almost every transmitting device within several million miles.

"Who speaks?" It boomed back. Lex had the volume dialed down on his communications systems, but its voice remained painfully loud.

"Your god addresses you, Brimstone."

"Are you? Are you that being that called this one forth from the void and set him among his angels? Are you the dark and vengeful god that cast forth this fallen angel among the heathens? Are you that which seeks to command Brimstone now, after such a base and faithless betrayal?" The voice boomed and ranted and Lex could see tiny twitches in its arms and legs. Twitches that would be practically tectonic movements.

He was glad the being's size limited its ability to move. It would take the better part of an hour before he could even raise a hand. However it didn't need to move to spew flames. It's voice seemed to be coming through real time, which was fortunate. "Answer if you dare! Are you my God?"

Lex spoke back, cranking the volume up to reverberate through Brimstone's body. "Lex Luthor is."

The random flailing movements of the creature stopped and Lex could see it trying to move itself into a kneeling position with arms outstretched on either side. The speed at which it was moving was beginning to pick up. Lex estimated perhaps another half an hour of pushing before it would be beyond the ability of Oa's gravity to pull it back. In the meantime, he just had to make sure Brimstone behaved.

"I cannot sense you, my God! Your magnificent form is veiled from me!" Brimstone cried out.

Lex replied, improvising as best he could, "You do not need to see me! My visage alone would blast you into nothingness! Can you not feel my presence through you? Feel my mighty hand upon you, moving you?"

"Where am I to go, my God?" It seemed to whine.

"I am giving you a chance to return to my good graces, my servant. Let my power move you to where you need to be and all will be revealed in time."

"I await your pleasure my dark and vengeful Lord!"

Lex sighed as he shut the connection. The primitive AI that ran Brimstone was designed to run on the delusion that it was a fallen angel seeking to redeem itself. Since the techno-seed was designed and built on Apokalips, redemption usually meant a great deal of death and destruction. Lex was broadcasting the correct signal to make it accept his voice as that of Darkseid himself. It was the only way to control the creature

Brimstone began to curl in on itself. Lex suspected it was trying to achieve a fetal position, but it would take a while still. In the meantime, Team Grunt was doing it's job well. They were almost entirely out of Oa's direct orbital path, but it would still be sometime before it was far enough away that it wouldn't get caught up by Oa's gravity and simply fall back onto it.

Mercy's voice was an amused whisper in his ear. "I know you've got a massive ego, but that's just a little much even for you, isn't it?"

Lex frowned, "How do you keep breaking in on my command channel?"

"I have all your access codes." She said smugly.

Lex's proximity alert began screaming at him. He turned his head towards the approaching green streak and braced himself. He had no clue what to expect, but a "thank you" didn't seem likely given the approach.

The streak resolved itself into a massively muscled humanoid with dark blue skin. He wore a Green Lantern uniform with no sleeves, but bicep length gloves, showing off immensely developed shoulders. His head was covered with a green hood, but his eyes burned intensely. The Lantern emblem on his uniform gleamed brightly as he floated to a stop before Lex.

"Where did you get the techno-seed?" He asked harshly, the ring facilitating communication despite the lack of an atmosphere. He reached out and grabbed hold of the collar of Lex's armor and pulled him closer, "Are you of Apokalips? Speak!"

Lex grit his teeth and stared down his assailant. Qarrigat had been abandoned on Oa when the Guardians pulled out of their battle with Darkseid, that was sealed information. The being was much older than he looked. The file had been sanitized somewhat, reflecting that they'd somehow completely eliminated any references to the war against Apokalips, but enough clues had been left behind for Lex to read between the lines. The correct answer to his question was painfully obvious. "They were spoils of war. Earth does not, and never will serve Darkseid."

The being stared unblinkingly into Luthor's eyes for long minutes. "You speak with sincerity and conviction. I can also see the flicker of hatred in your eyes at the name Darkseid. This is good."

"We have little reason to like self-proclaimed gods." Lex allowed a small smile to break through his expression at the irony of that statement. "As for Oa, if I wanted it destroyed, I would not have bothered stopping the Rannian's weapon."

Qarrigat shrugged elaborately. On shoulders as broad as his, it was a particularly impressive sight. "There are those who would not wish for the deaths of their enemies to be an impersonal thing."

"You don't say..." Lex murmured.

Mercy's voice whispered into his ear, "I think he means you, boss." Lex did his best not to allow his expression to change.

"How did you get it to quiet down for you? There were days when Parademons would throw techno-seeds into the fire pits just to watch the Lowlies run." Qarrigat's voice was oddly nostalgic, but hard.

"There's specific command codes that force it to listen to you. They change frequently but I can give you the ones I have." Lex said helpfully. Of course the codes he had wouldn't be useful on any other techno-seeds but the ones he'd gotten from Darkseid personally,, but appearing to be cooperative looked like the way to avoid a confrontation. The last thing he needed was another fight just as things were beginning to settle down.

The blue skinned man nodded once, then looked around. "I notice you have also managed to quiet down the fight as well."

Lex nodded. "We do not like useless violence."

Qarrigat gave a sly smile. "As opposed to the useful kind?"

"Just so."

Qarrigat nodded, then gestured to the slowly moving Brimstone. "Did you need help?"

"Getting it to a safe distance would be a lot easier with more hands helping." Lex said carefully.

Qarrigat gave a sharp nod, then closed his ring-hand into a fist. "Kraken. It's Raker. Send about a hundred of the Lanterns you like least over to the Brimstone. We're helping the humans get it out of this system."

He gave Lex one last salute, a fist to his chest, then flew off to help. Lex let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Martian, make sure Superman's team knows that they've got Green Lanterns incoming to give a hand." Lex spoke into his communicator.

J'onn's voice began to reply, but his face in the display a mask of alarm, "Luthor, we have a situation. How much longer will you need Superman and the rest of his team?"

"Half an hour at least. Not counting on whatever help they from the Lanterns." Lex replied, wondering if Mercy was still on the circuit.

"This cannot wait. Deep space telemetry has detected nineteen meteors on direct courses for Earth. There may be more, but we have not yet been able to pick them out."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Lex said with a frown, "The orbital defenses should be able to handle them, rig-"

J'onn cut him off. "They came out of the asteroid belt at relativistic velocities. We have perhaps seventeen minutes before impact."

"From the asteroid belt to Earth in seventeen minutes?" Lex inhaled sharply as he did the calculations in his head. They were moving at an appreciable percentage of the speed of light. "You have their trajectories plotted out?"

"Yes. They all project out from a common point deep in the belt. Each one will impact a major population center, but even a single strike will be sufficient to ring the planet like a bell."

"I know. Death toll in the millions. Possibly billions." Lex said sharply. Single point origination. Targeting specific points on a planet fourteen light years away. This was deliberately aimed. "You need an intercept before it gets near Earth. Somewhere around Martian orbit, I'd imagine. "

"Yes. And for it to work we will need all of them." J'onn replied. "Oracle ran the numbers-"

Lex interrupted, "No, I understand. Let me work out-" He closed his eyes for a moment then spoke rapidly into the Grunt channel. "We're aborting phase three early. Continue pushing for one more minute, then prepare for teleport evac. We need to get you all back to the Sol system."

Superman's voice came to him. The comm units they received had no video. "What's going on, Lex?"

"Attack on Earth. You're needed for an inter-planetary intercept."

"What about Oa?" Superman's voice was suspicious.

"It can fend for itself while we deal with this!" Lex snapped. "Another thirty eight seconds of pushing should put Brimstone on an unstable long orbit that will keep him from hitting Oa for a few days. Qarrigat is sending Lanterns to move him the rest of the way from there before that even becomes an issue!"

"Superman, we need everyone back. Teleporters are online to pull everyone back. I can fill you all in once you get back here." J'onn's diplomatically pitched voice cut in smoothly.

"Do that," Lex said impatiently and shut them out of the circuit. He didn't believe in coincidences. Why an attack now? And who would- his mind quieted itself as he realized the obvious answer. He noticed a communication attempt from John Stewart and allowed it through. He was certain it would confirm what he'd just realized.

"Luthor, we have a problem." He said without preamble.

"They've figured out it's me." Lex said tonelessly. "The Guardians know the threat they're dealing with is from Earth."

"Right! There's a Manhunter-"

"They have some sort of base with a mass driver in the asteroid belt." Lex interrupted.

"Look if you already know all of this-" John's voice held a tone of annoyance.

"I just found out. How bad is it?"

"Extremely. They just came to a decision. They're broadcasting this to the other Lanterns now." John's image raised a closed fist and allowed his ring to speak. It was not in the toneless, noninflected voice of the ring, but instead the urgent treble of the Guardians.

"We have confirmed that all ships currently in orbit around Oa are part of a multi-world coalition created by the criminal human Lex Luthor and is intent on the destruction of the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. They must be stopped at all costs! We hereby authorize the use of deadly force. They will offer no mercy, so we must give them none. Destroy the invaders!"

Lex swore. Today really was not his day. "Oracle, did you catch that?"

"Yes. We're on it." Her voice was tightly controlled and Lex could see some of the ships were beginning to leave the area, but even as that happened, green streaks began shooting across the system. The Lanterns were charging in, no discipline and no formations. A few of the ships began shooting and the war above Oa was back in full swing within the blink of an eye.

He supposed he should have been happy that Brimstone was still being pulled away by other Lanterns, but there were still more than enough Lanterns charging into the area, filling the space with green death.

Lex shook his head and realized his proximity alarm was screaming at him once more. He cranked his force field to the maximum and braced himself as best he could in the fraction of a second before Raker Qarrigat plowed fist-first into him.

This was not going to be pretty.


	22. Chapter 22

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 22**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex did not really feel the fist connect.

He hadn't even realized anything was wrong if his proximity alert weren't screaming at him and the scenery began to spin. He frowned and knew that obviously he was spinning and not the rest of the universe, but the artificial gravity and inertial compensators of his suit were tricking his inner ear into believing he hadn't moved at all. Which made matters worse as his gorge began to rise. The crazed spinning of the background warred with his body's insistence that he was standing perfectly still and was manifesting itself as a need to hurl his non-existent breakfast.

The next indicators that something was clearly wrong were the multiple impacts his other instruments were registering. He glanced 'down' relative to his position and saw Raker Qarrigat framed, upside down between his feet, having manifested what appeared to be multiple floating gun turrets and was now shooting Lex.

The impacts were also spinning him further and pushing him away, but from inside, Lex felt... nothing. He closed his eyes, which calmed the nausea considerably, but the lack of reference points was confusing Lex. He hadn't had much opportunity to attempt zero-G combat and knew how to do it in theory... but his reflexes were still being completely thrown off. He realized belatedly that he had perhaps over-compensated on the inertial dampening.

Making matters worse was the unrelenting barrage of green blasts that Qarrigat had unleashed, not allowing Lex any opportunity to gather his considerable wits. He needed a breather. Just a moment of not being spun crazily and being shot at to let him get stock of what the devil was going on, but the weapons fire continued, spattering harmlessly off of his force fields and armor, but not giving him a chance to respond. Lex admitted ruefully to himself he didn't exactly have much to respond with.

He adjusted his display, completely blocking out his normal vision, but still allowing him to see his various range overlays. The display showed him floating past the shattered bulk of a broken ship. One of the ones his construction team must have missed during their work. He unblocked his eyesight for a moment and it spun past in his vision for a moment before another blast shot him into then through a bulkhead.

He caught the moment he needed then. The enclosed space giving him something to orient himself against and it gave him some momentary cover. It was just enough. He stealthed the energy signature of his armor, shifting to a green energy configuration. He cranked his gravity drive to its maximum for a fraction of a second, sending him hurtling deep into the broken ship. His sensors registered Qarrigat slowing down. Looking for him obviously, but Lex now had time to plan... to set an ambush.

He tried not to think about what was going on beyond the walls of the dead ship. They'd been so close to getting things quieted down. Something had finally set the Guardians off. Something had galvanized them into action. While it was important, at the moment, it wasn't critical. Survival was.

Dealing with the Guardians would happen, but it would be after he dealt with this distraction.

Lex allowed his feet to settle on a level surface that he was willing to call a floor. He needed weapons. He needed to make sure he had things ready.

He signaled the Moonraker.

"Lex, what's going on?" Mercy asked immediately. "That space TV show you had Junior on is going into some sort of panic. The Green Lanterns are killing people?"

He ignored her questions completely. "You're not in-system yet, right?"

"No. It says on the indicators we're still about half a light year out." She replied.

"Good. I'm going to need you to stay put. It's a war zone out here."

She stared at him as though he'd grown a second head. "What? What are you talking about? Of course I'm coming to pick you up!"

He looked at her sharply and she pulled back slightly, but her eyes hardened. "This isn't going to be another Cadmus, Lex. I'm going to get you out of there."

"I'm right in the middle of the fighting; you're just going to put yourself in danger."

She snarled. "You're already in danger!"

"Well, no sense in both of us being in trouble." He replied with a lightness he didn't feel. "I can't talk long. I'm being stalked by a Lantern who used to play in Darkseid's back yard. I just called to get some things done. I'm going to need you to protect something and I need to grab Teddy."

"Why are you getting Teddy, but not me?" She ground out.

"Because I don't care if he gets killed." He replied mildly.

"Wh-?" She began to ask, but before she could finish, Lex had switched channels and auto-dialed a cell phone number. "Eve, it's Lex."

"Lex, how are-"

"Sorry, we're still in crisis mode. Are you carrying that key fob I got you?" Lex asked mildly.

"Yes." Her voice was cautious.

Lex said quickly, "We've got a potential extinction level event about to happen and I'm being specifically targeted."

Her voice was heavy with concern. "Oh, Lex-"

"I need to make sure you're safe so I can concentrate." He interrupted. "Stand by."

He switched channels again to a cursing Mercy. "Lex, what are you talking about protecting?"

Lex remotely triggered the panic button on Eve's key fob. Eve gave a squeak of surprise at finding herself next to Mercy. Lex could see that they were both confused, but he didn't give them another opportunity to argue with him and simply triggered the teleport beacon he'd buried in the little bear's fur. He hated having to use something as unreliable as the Manhunter turned stuffed toy, but if he'd had the time, he would've been able to build some proper drainers into his armor. Hell, if he'd had the time he would've built actual weapons into the thing.

He heard Mercy's voice over-riding his comm system once more. "Lex if you have a teleporter why don't you just evac to the Moonraker now?" There was a pleading note to her voice that he hated to hear.

He grit his teeth, "Because my armor's not finished. I've got a slide beacon that lets me teleport things to and from me, but I can't move myself. Now get off the channel. I'm in the middle of a firefight."

He could hear her start to call to him, but he cranked the volume on that channel down as low as it would go and tuned her out. He took a deep breath, centering himself once more. He keyed a program into the gravitic generators, setting up a link to his sensors. His opponent was supposed to be very good. An old veteran. Lex needed every edge he could get to ensure his survival.

Lex grabbed Teddy from where he'd been floating since he'd popped back into existence. He knew the bear was trying to speak to him in its sing song voice, but Lex hadn't extended the atmosphere of his environmental field to encompass it, nor was he taking its radio broadcasts. He didn't really need to talk to it right now. Its furry little face was as much a mask of fury as it could manage on its limited articulation. Lex smirked.

The girls were relatively safe... and he had his bear. Now he was ready.

He was still tapped into the emerald communications bands that the Green Lanterns used. He opened a general broadcast for a limited distance, just barely strong enough to reach where his sensors told him Qarrigat would be.

"Call the Lanterns off, Qarrigat," Lex said softly. "You saw with your own eyes what happened. The so-called invasion force was already standing down. They were making no aggressive actions. Why would the Guardians order you to kill us? That makes no sense."

A fierce, hard voice replied, "I have my orders Lex Luthor of Terra. The Guardians obviously know something that you were keeping from me. I'd advise you to come peacefully."

Lex grinned. The man was an experienced and canny warrior. Obviously he'd be using the conversation as an opportunity to pinpoint Lex's location through the broadcast. His sensors had already picked out something which he expected was some sort of energy construct manifesting a distance away from Qarrigat obviously intended to help him triangulate Lex's position.

"You don't seriously expect me to fall for that, do you? They want me dead." Lex replied agreeably.

"They want you rendered harmless." Qarrigat punctuated this with another blast that was much too close for comfort. Lex allowed himself to drift deeper within the broken ship.

"Harmless?" Lex scoffed, then spoke slowly, as though to a child, "Oa. Shot. First. I'll bet you my Brimstone they don't intend for anyone who isn't under their control to leave this sector alive."

"They would not do such a thing, Lex Luthor of Terra. They are honorable beings." There was an air of wounded dignity to his voice.

"Wouldn't they?" Lex asked slyly. His sensors indicated that Qarrigat was closing in on his position. With a flourish, he pulled the Reach pistol from the tesseract chamber on his gauntlet and held it. It seemed straightforward enough to operate. He only hoped it worked properly, otherwise he would have to fall back on plan... what was he on by now? Twenty seven? Twenty eight? It was so easy to lose track when everything shifted so quickly.

"You are the one coming into other people's orbital space brandishing an Apokalipsian designed weapon of mass destruction!" Qarrigat's voice shot back over the emerald channels.

Lex laughed derisively. "To save their lives. Did you know that your war... the war of the Guardians against Apokalips isn't mentioned in the Book of Oa? Nothing at all."

"What of it? It was a footnote in the long history of the-"

"They kept stories in there of Corps members who were blind, insane and megalomaniacal, yet they wouldn't include a war that killed so many of their soldiers?" Lex asked slyly. He knew of the stories from some old conversations he'd had with the former Green Lantern Sinestro back in the day. Lex had never read the book of Oa himself, but making educated guesses was simple enough.

"I will not have you mock their sacrifi-" Qarrigat began, but Lex cut him off once more.

"I'm not the one who struck their names... who struck your name from the book of Oa." Lex mixed his own speculations with what Stewart had pulled from the file for him. "They never cared. You were found by humans. You were rescued from your millennia long ordeal behind enemy lines by my kind. Not the Guardians. You owe them nothing."

"The Guardians were right in what they did!" Qarrigat roared. Lex noted that several bulkheads that had been separating him from the Green Lantern were no longer registering on his sensors. He was fairly sure they'd been torn off somehow.

"What was that?" Lex asked softly. The Lantern was close now. Almost close enough to strike, but Lex didn't want to spring his trap too early. "Were they right to leave their brave soldier behind? Maybe, but they didn't just leave you, Raker Qarrigat," Lex continued. "You helped pull the war together in the first place... you were the first and most visible proponent of the war."

The Green Lantern replied simply, "That's true." Lex cursed silently as he noticed that the position indicator had stopped. Had Qarrigat detected the ambush? Lifetimes worth of experience as a freedom fighter on Darkseid's home territory were bound to sharpen one's instincts.

Time to put in the thumbscrews, Lex thought to himself, before he responded. "Darkseid can be shockingly petty. He would never allow the Guardians to just call of their war without having them pay some sort of price..."

Still no movement, but Qarrigat's voice across the comm was soft. "What are you trying to say?"

"In return for leaving them alone, the Guardians obviously sold you to Darkseid." Lex said. He suspected it was the case, reading between the lines of Qarrigat's file, but all he needed was for Qarrigat to buy it for just long enough. After all, rattling your opponent's confidence was always a good tactic, but it worked much better when your opponent used a weapon that worked off his will. "Thousands of years in that dark God's clutches because the Guardians wanted to be left alone." Lex whispered back, "Tell me, which hurts more? The betrayal or the knowledge that it didn't have to happen?"

Lex cursed. Still no movement from Qarrigat, but the sudden intrusion of glowing green beams punching their way through the chamber Lex had hidden himself in, along with the incoherent roar over the radio was a good indicator that he'd touched a nerve.

Lex only had a moment to note that at the end of each beam was some sort of missile. This time he actually had something to brace against. By instinct, Lex raised an arm, the one he was using to hold Teddy in to cover his eyes as the missiles exploded, battering the field.

Unlike the earlier blasts, Lex could actually feel these ones. Before, each blow would simply send him flying off away from the impact. This time, Lex was holding his position, allowing the explosions an opportunity to, well... they weren't hurting exactly, but he could swear his brain was rattling against the side of his skull as a dozen explosions tore the chamber around him apart.

Teddy, who was only partially within the protection of Lex's force field already looked like he'd taken a beating. His outfit and part of an ear were already torn by flying shrapnel. Lex hadn't equipped the bear body with any pain sensors, so he was sure it didn't hurt, but he was also sure that this was not making the miniscule Manhunter happy.

Excellent, Lex thought as Teddy unfolded its chest and began siphoning the remnants of the emerald energies surrounding them to produce a shield for itself. He knew the little bear was going to need it.

Disorientation strategy again, but Lex saw Qarrigat's approach this time. The explosions were both a distraction and a way to open up a direct route to him. His sensors picked up Qarrigat's attack this time. A glowing cylinder set up to ram right into Lex.

Lex raised the hand that held the Reach weapon and allowed his targeting system to take over the task of aiming. He wasn't entirely sure what the weapon could do, but he was willing to find out.

The torrent of blue energy that lashed out of the weapon and shattered the energy construct was a surprise. The fact that it continued past the broken attack to strike at the Green Lantern behind it was an even greater one. Lex noted that at first Qarrigat's shield wavered on first brush against the energy, but then firmed almost immediately and began throwing up green sparks where they touched.

Qarrigat was pushed back at first, but rallied immediately and held his ground until the blast had expended itself. Lex noted with some annoyance that the weapon reported itself already at half charge. Either the Negotiator hadn't kept his weapon's charge topped up, or it just really did use up that much energy in a single shot. At least that also gave Lex an idea of what it did and how well. He grinned. He could definitely pull this off.

"Apokalipsian weaponry and now Reach as well? And you expect me to believe you are not an enemy of Oa? How great a fool do you think I am?" Qarrigat roared over the comm link. "Your lies have done nothing to shake my resolve, Lex Luthor of Terra!"

Qarrigat unleashed another barrage of energy blasts, but between his field and Teddy it didn't even faze Lex. They were close enough that Lex's smirk was clearly visible to the enraged blue man.

Lex taunted. "Your loyalty does you honor, Raker Qarrigat, but your blindness is an insult to those who fell! I am an enemy to the Guardians for they are an enemy to all that lives. How does it feel to serve Anti-Life?"

That was the final straw. Lex wasn't sure why he'd said it, but he remembered belatedly that Darkseid had been searching for the Anti-Life Equation. As insults went, that seemed to strike the perfect note. The Green Lantern gave another enraged roar over the comm link, charging wildly at Lex. Whatever finesse, subtlety or tactical brilliance he might have had in stock was washed away by a desire to close in and mix it up. Lex was sure the larger part of that desire was an eagerness to shut Lex up.

Exactly what he'd been counting on.

The movement triggered Lex's proximity sensors which in turn activated the programming Lex had readied. He knew his reflexes would be no match for Qarrigat's. On the other hand, he was certain Qarrigat's own reflexes would not stack up too well against the reaction time the computers in his suit were capable of.

"Have a Manhunter!" Lex crowed at Teddy's launch. "I almost wish I had Qwardian weapons just to complete the set."

The Green Lantern's charge was suddenly halted by the sudden impact of a plush Manhunter bear in the face at relativistic velocities. Although the green aura of energy surrounding him blunted the impact, it still flung him backwards, completely disoriented. The green shield surrounding Teddy had merged with Qarrigat's own and the plush bear clung tenaciously to the blue skinned man's face, draining his ring's charge eagerly.

Lex took a long moment to savor the absurdity of the image.

Had the Reach weapon not worked as expected, Lex would've been happy enough to let Teddy drain Qarrigat's ring completely and leave him exposed to the cold, hard vacuum of space. Though he may not have felt himself to be so, the former Apokalipsian Green Lantern was luckier than he realized when Lex shot both him and Teddy with the Reach weapon.

The blast struck Teddy first, burning a hole in his tiny little faux space suit, charring the fur beneath and blazing through his stuffing before the blunted energy, splashed right into Qarrigat's face. His aura held long enough to keep it from punching through his skull, but it wasn't enough to save him from blindness and worse. The bolt still had just enough punch left to fry the huge blue man's nervous system into complete uselessness. The multiple layers of energy and bear had saved him from fatality, but there still remained enough to penetrate Qarrigat's weakened shields and stun him into insensibility.

Energy sparked and crackled off of Teddy as it floated free of Qarrigat's head. A radio message from the bear arrived and Lex deigned to listen to it, "Luthor, you bas-" its voice was a broken croak.

Lex cut it off. "I know who told the Guardians it was me. It's obvious in hindsight, them figuring it out the moment you came within communication range."

"But-"

"Your usefulness has come to an end. I'll let Eve know you perished saving my life. It's close enough to the truth." Lex said with sad finality, then turned his attention entirely away from the broken bear. His sensors were feeding him the tactical situation, but it wasn't good. Malone, the Martian and Oracle were obviously doing their best, but several hundred ships, even ones as large and as heavily armed as the blockade ships, were having trouble dealing with a thousand Green Lanterns who weren't restraining themselves. In the brief minutes he'd spent dealing with Qarrigat, more ships had become disabled or destroyed than in the opening salvo just minutes before.

That was simply unacceptable. Lex glanced down at the indicator in the corner of his vision. 98% and rising.

Lex signaled Oa once more. "Stewart! It's gone mad up here. What's happening down there? Any chance you can hi-jack Guardian communications to call off the Lanterns?"

"Things are just as bad down here, Luthor." Stewart grumbled in reply. "The Guardians have gone into full lockdown. All the civilians are trapped in the shelters. There are undercurrents on the headnet of them planning to use them as hostages, but they haven't decided yet if it's worthwhile."

Lex cursed.

"It gets worse. They plan on pulling the recruits up to join the fight up top, but they're waiting for the right moment."

"Even if they're just going to get killed?"

"Especially if they're going to get killed. The plan seems to be to blame this on you. The worse it comes out, the worse this will look."

Lex replied with a frown. "All of Earth's heavy hitters are busy and anyone else is just going to be baggage. Is there any chance you can get the recruits to turn?"

"Negative. They're still listening to Kilowog for now, but if we try to persuade them to come in on the fight on the side of the blockade fleet... I don't know. Maybe half of them will rebel against that."

"Qarrigat's out of the picture." Lex said flatly.

Stewart's brow furrowed, but he appeared to be holding his tongue.

Lex replied a bit more sharply than he'd intended, "Not dead. But he's out of the fight for at least a few hours."

"That puts overall command in the field to his partner. Kraken. She's not as experienced, but-"

"That's the weird thing. They didn't look like they were using any overall strategy, just a crazed rush. No finesse, no maneuvering. Qarrigat should've held back and directed the fighting, but instead he charged me."

"That makes no-" John began, but then cut off as his expression became thoughtful. "They're sending out emotive signaling on the carrier band."

Lex shook his head. "Aggression. They're pumping the Lanterns up here with pure aggression. It makes sense. I'd expect at least some of them to question orders. Can you cut it off?"

John shook his head once more. "There's at least seven or eight Guardians pumping that out. I can't even divert it without them noticing me."

Lex's mind was in overdrive once more, there was still a possible trump card in place on Oa, but he was reluctant to use it.

He took another look down at the indicator on his display that showed the parameter had hit 98.51% and was continuing to rise. He knew they'd already begun feeling the effects, hence the... desperation in their actions. Felt, but not quite sure what they were feeling. Lex hoped it was unease. The idea of unnerving the little bobbleheads amused him. He shook his head and tried to focus once more.

It was time for what he thought of as the Left-handed option. He didn't have anything else to pull.

"Kilowog can't order your recruits to turn, but can he talk them into disarming?" Lex asked urgently.

"What do yo-?"

"I mean if he tells them to take their rings off and stay out of the way, will they listen?"

"They might." John said cautiously.

"Good. I don't care what he has to tell them. Keep them from finding out the Guardians ordered them out and get those rings."

"What are you planni-"

"You've got the powers of a Guardian. You can alter parameters on an existing ring, correct? Change its capabilities?"

"Yes, but that takes time. If I were working on a template, I could do it faster-"

"How much faster?"

"A few seconds to copy another ring's setup, I suppose."

Lex grinned. "Perfect."

He frowned once more. "What are you intending to do? All those rings are locked to the Guardians' commands. They have full control over them when they choose. So, if you're planning on giving them to the crew of the blockade fleet, it won't work, the Guardians would just shut those rings down. I can lock them out, I guess, but it'll take a few hours of work on the first ring before I could copy the new parameters. There's not enough time."

"I can get you a ring that's not keyed to the Guardians'." Lex replied simply.

"There are no Green Lantern rings not keyed to the Guardians!" John shouted back, but then flinched as he realized what Lex was talking about. "Even if you got your hands on it and I could replicate the settings, who'd use them?"

"Let me worry about that. Tell Gardener and Kilowog to disarm those recruits and bring the rings to you." Lex called up another program he'd already keyed into his main slide. The unique energy signature of his target made it child's play to locate despite the distance. Its small size made bringing it to him a matter of simplicity. He held his palm out as the ring shimmered into existence on it.

Lex eyed it, considering the possibilities. He'd thought of using it himself, but two things stopped him. The first was that he would need to take his gauntlet off to put it on. An act that would destroy the integrity of his environmental field. Not exactly recommended in space. If he waited until he was in a more conducive environment, the second, and far more critical problem reared its ugly head.

The ring's energies would taint him and render him unable to complete his endgame. He couldn't risk that. Certainly not when the parameter had reached 98.84% and continued to rise.

All in all, it made the ring utterly useless to him until just this moment. The temptation of the power in his hand was almost overwhelming and he allowed himself to savor it for just a second before he used a slide portal to drop it at Stewart's feet.

"Where did-?"

"It doesn't matter. See if you can access it first and alter the restrictions." Lex sent a text file to John. "I'd considered having to do this, but didn't think we would need to, but I kept my notes handy."

"This is doable, but-"

Lex cut him off once more, "I need you to start replicating that programming onto the recruit's rings once you get them. I'll see about getting you the wielders."

John's jaw tightened once more and Lex felt a momentary sensation of pressure behind his eyes. He saw the eyes on the image of John Stewart widen. "That's insane, Luthor."

"I'll thank you to keep out of my head." He shot back. "This entire situation is insane. The Guardians are losing control and they've decided they're taking everyone down with them. Tell me I'm wrong." Lex challenged.

"It's looking that way, but freeing him would be-"

"It's our best shot at saving as many lives as possible." Lex replied softly. "This is personal. They made it personal. They want the blockade fleets dead? Well, fine. I'm going to save them because it will piss the Guardians off. They want Oa's population as hostages? I'm going to free them. I am going to stop the Guardians at every turn and utterly destroy them as soon as my moment arrives." Lex locked gazes with John's image, "Now help me or get out of the way."

John held silent for a moment but finally nodded. "I'll get the rings done. By the time they're ready, there won't be any more hiding that my Guardian powers are back."

"With what we're about to unleash upon them, they won't have time to think about that." Lex said. "Send me the original ring and at least one other when you're done."

"I'll need at least ten minutes for the first one." Stewart said. "After that I should go much faster."

Lex looked up at the flashes and streaks of green that blazed across the heavens. Every so often blasts in different colors would splash across his field of vision, but they were fewer. He's lost track of the Lanterns towing Brimstone, but he knew they were still within range of his sensors if he adjusted them. It was too far from the battle and much too slow to make much of a difference for the moment.

"Hurry." Lex urged the human Guardian. "I'll meet you on Oa."

He keyed up Oracle on the communicator once more and said, "Be advised, if all goes well, I'll have reinforcements for the blockade fleet in about ten minutes."

Her holographic face nodded to him, "They should be able to hold out that long. The asteroid strikes towards Earth and the inner system are continuing. The League hasn't pinned down the source and whoever it is keeps shooting more. We're managing to catch them..."

Lex could fill in the blanks himself. It was only a matter of time before someone got tired and missed one, then it would be all over. That needed to be stopped at the source as well.

Lex pushed off the broken hulk of the ship that he'd sheltered in and calculated his necessary trajectories before flaring his gravitic manipulators. He shot forward, accelerating himself at full speed towards Oa and drawing broken debris in his wake.

99.03% and rising.

Lex grinned, closing his eyes and trusting to his calculations for the long seconds needed to bridge the distance to Oa. He reduced his energy signature, scaling back to the bare minimum trickle to keep his environmental field and force fields up as he plunged into Oa's atmosphere. Between his minimal profile and the surrounding cloud of metal fragments that fell in with him, he would hopefully look to be little more than another piece of flotsam crashing into the planet from the battle above.

Nothing worth noticing.

At least not until it was too late.

The planet's gravity and his own initial thrust sent him screaming through the air, following his pre-calculated trajectory. His armor's drives were shut down during this part of the process, seeking to avoid the Citadel's defenses for as long as possible. Below him the city grew. Faster and faster, a green cityscape spread out before him and filling his vision. Around him air flared and sparked against his shields as the speed of his assisted atmospheric entry heated displaced air to incandescence.

He'd done the numbers well. He was well past the effective range of Oan anti-air defenses when he pulsed his shields to their maximum. His target, the building below him grew ever larger. He grinned wildly. He would have to look into selling this sort of experience. Surely some extreme sports enthusiasts would pay through the nose for the change to leap from orbit and scream their way down through re-entry.

He'd originally planned to be able to simply whisk his target away with no one the wiser. There was no time to plant a teleport beacon now, much less plan a more elegant escape. Not even enough time to cobble together some other way to stage any sort of breakout that didn't use old-fashioned brute force.

He had no weapons, except himself. Literally.

Lex crashed into the reinforced concrete and metal structure at terminal velocity for the Oan atmosphere. His last force field pulse hardened the barrier surrounding him to imperviousness, but despite the theoretical knowledge of his invulnerability, a very human reflex made him cross his arms over his head as he slammed into the roof of the structure, then through the floor below it, then the floor below that.

Lex punched through seven levels before he finally came to stop, sprawled inelegantly on the floor. He was impressed at his own precision, even though he shouldn't have been. His stop brought him just within the sciencell of his trump card. His crash through a multitude of load-bearing columns and energy conduits had shut down the energy barriers that kept the prisoners contained.

It was going to be just a matter of time before they realized they were free and Lex was prepared to exploit that window of opportunity.

Lex rose to his feet slowly and unsteadily.

The individual he'd intended to extract was an expert at fighting the Guardians and Green Lanterns. The perfect field commander for what desperation had required him to create. The red skinned man stood impassively amidst the debris of the crash and raised an eyebrow at Lex.

"Sinestro." Lex smiled. "I have an offer for you."


	23. Chapter 23

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 23**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Sinestro smiled back at Lex. He wore the black and blue skin-tight outfit he'd often worn during his forays against the Green Lanterns. He opened his hands in welcome and said grandly. "Welcome, Lex Luthor. You're right on time. I've been expecting you."

Lex frowned for a moment as he tried to puzzle out this statement, but then inclined his head and gave the red-skinned man a a sour look. "Don't try to pull that on me. I just used it on Vril Dox earlier today. I am not in the mood."

Sinestro laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I have to amuse myself somehow. Although I must admit, I am pleased to see you." He glanced up at the hole punched into the ceiling. "And even more pleased at your spectacular choice of entrance."

"Hello," Lex allowed himself to crack a weak smile. "I just thought I would drop in."

"Obviously you want something." Sinestro said.

Lex nodded. "Do you want the short version?"

"Please do."

"I'm going to destroy the Guardians. To do so, I need someone to face down the Green Lanterns currently in the high orbitals trying to destroy a blockade fleet."

Sinestro smirked. "Intriguing. How many Lanterns are up there?"

"At least a thousand." Lex replied. "The rest are still inbound. All of them were called back."

Sinestro's eyebrows raised. "While your faith in me is charming, I know I can't take on that many at once. At least, I assume that's why you're staging this breakout."

"Yes. I don't intend to send you up there alone." Lex said dismissively.

"An army?" Sinestro looked mildly intrigued once more. "What did you bring with you?"

"I didn't bring them. I have weapons for them, but you'll need to assemble the warriors you need yourself." Lex flicked his gaze to the chronometer in his field of view. "Or rather, I will have weapons for them in about four minutes."

Sinestro shot Lex an incredulous look. "I've been in this sciencell for almost a year now. Were you expecting me to keep an army in my pants?"

Lex grinned, "A year in a building filled with horribly dangerous individuals who I'm certain are terrified of you and who in all likelihood happen to be nursing huge grudges against the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps."

Sinestro looked startled for a moment, but his face broke into a wide grin. "Oh, Lex... you had me at 'Hello'."

Lex stared as he realized where that line was from and the context.

Sinestro laughed at the human's expression and said, "What? Your world has some surprisingly good entertainment media."

"I... hadn't realized you'd seen it."

Sinestro gave an indulgent shrug before extending his hand. "Now... weapons?"

"In a few minutes. They're still being manufactured."

Sinestro pursed his lips, pacing to the now deactivated force field of his cell. "Not that I mind the opportunity to deal with the Guardians' toy soldiers, but I am a little surprised that you're after them. Wasn't your own personal brand of screaming self-destructive psychopathy reserved for the Kryptonian?"

Lex winced slightly. "Things have... changed. You were dead for a good length of time even before you ended up incarcerated."

"True enough."

Lex frowned as his proximity alarm sounded once more. Two beings moving down the hallway just outside Sinestro's cell, "We've got company coming."

"I know," Sinestro said calmly, bending down to pick up a torn metal reinforcement bar from the debris on the floor. "Flying on the green energy tends to have a distinctive sound."

He hefted the twisted bit of metal thoughtfully for a moment, his eyes narrowing in concentration. Sinestro added almost casually, "If you severed their access to sensors on the way in, they'll want to check the most dangerous prisoners first."

"Like yourself." Lex said, leaning down to pick up some debris to use with his linear accelerator. He was running out of weapons, but at least that one was still working.

Sinestro quirked an eyebrow at Lex gathering chunks of concrete, but did not bother to comment as two Green Lanterns, a hulking purple skinned bald humanoid and something that looked vaguely like an orange beach ball with a dozen eyes flew past the opening where the force field should have been. Sinestro's eyes brightened as Lex realized he must have recognized one or the other. The humanoid had a certain obvious air of command to him while the beach ball didn't have a Lantern insignia on its uniform, just a blank white circle.

Lex could tell that the humanoid Lantern was going to say something along the lines of, "Surrender." or "Stay where you are." but he did not have an opportunity to do so.

Before either had the chance to react, Sinestro had swung the metal bar into the beach ball. The aura around it flared slightly and Lex could see all of it's eyes closed as it flinched from the impact. The lightly applied green aura staved off some of the blow, but expert placement and years of experience with Green Lantern energy constructs allowed enough damage through to bruise and startle the unwary rookie.

It staggered away, partly blinded, trying to blink the pain out of its multitude of eyes, Sinestro wound up and slammed it a second time in the same place, this time, with the distraction, the weapon broke through the aura, staving in the Lantern's smooth spherical shape and spattering bright yellow ichor all over Sinestro's face and weapon. The ball seemed barely conscious and sank to the floor, its green aura guttering out.

The purple humanoid finally realized that they were under attack and lashed out with emerald beams of energy but to Lex's surprise, Sinestro batted the energy aside with his gory weapon, letting the beams wither and dissipate against the yellow ichor. Some of it stayed active long enough to slap weakly against Sinestro, but he didn't even flinch.

The moment of shock as his attack was rendered ineffective, coupled with the swiftness of Sinestro's initial attack froze the Lantern just long enough for the Korugaran to extend an ichor spattered hand, passing through the humanoid's protective green aura as though it were not there. Yellow ichor, Lex thought to himself. The Korugaran grabbed hold of the uniform collar to hold the Lantern steady before he rammed the metal bar into the humanoid's masked eye. He convulsed and dropped to the floor, his uniform still bunched up in Sinestro's fist.

The beach ball was still trying to move, but Sinestro simply stamped on it viciously shattering more of it's exoskeletal structure and spattering his boot and pant leg with more bright yellow. There was an unpleasant wet gurgle to its weak breathing.

Lex truly was impressed. The whole incident had taken seconds. The viciousness appalled him, but he could also applaud it for the ruthlessness. The casual brutality mixed with Sinestro's own complete indifference to what he had done was something that Lex had seen in the Korugaran before, but he hadn't really thought too deeply on it. On reflection, it was obvious now that the red skinned man was just as badly damaged as Lex was and he felt a moment of sympathy for the man once hailed as the Greatest Green Lantern of all. Another one who fell far at the Guardian's manipulations. The blood of the fallen Lanterns were on Sinestro, but the blame was still firmly in Oan hands.

As to Sinestro himself, he was not even breathing hard. In fact he seemed vaguely annoyed. He released the humanoid lantern, then knelt down and easily pulled the rings off of the two downed aliens. "If this is the quality of what passes for a Corps member these days, killing a thousand of them should be a quiet afternoon's work."

"The Guardians authorized the Lanterns to use lethal force." Lex said quietly.

Sinestro seemed amused. "Did they? They must really be mad at you then."

"I have that effect on people." Lex admitted with mock modesty.

The rings seemed inclined to fly out from between Sinestro's fingers. He closed his fist around them and seemed to focus his will, but that didn't quite stop that hand from quivering. He glanced over his shoulder at Lex. "They seem to have made some modifications to the design."

Lex shrugged. "As I understand it the newer rings are less vulnerable to yellow, but more inclined to act on their own."

"Fortunately not 'less vulnerable' enough." Sinestro gave Lex another speculative look. "Why are you suddenly so interested in the Guardians? You never did answer my question."

"Did you know about Abin Sur's ring?" Lex asked suddenly.

Understanding seemed to light up Sinestro's features and he nodded. "Ahh. I see. Yes, I did know about the Five Inversions and the Manhunters, but not until later. That's rather abstract for you, Luthor. They did something to you personally, didn't they?"

Lex merely nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak.

"They tried to break you, didn't they? That's their way. They won't kill, save by proxy and even then only reluctantly, but they practically invented every sort of psychological torture and manipulation imaginable." There was an unpleasant brightness to Sinestro's eyes. "They did things to me when I turned on them." He allowed a nostalgic smile to flit across his face for a moment, the few bright yellow blood spatters on red skin lending it a surreal look to Lex's eye.

"If you don't mind me asking-?" Lex started to say.

Sinestro's voice was distant and distracted. "Why?"

Lex nodded. "The usual story was that you wanted control and the power had gone to your head."

"Rumors and disinformation are part of their bag of tricks," He snorted derisively. "Do you know what Korugar's designation in the Oan census database is?"

"No."

"A genetic re-diversification world. I believe your own world, Earth's designation was-"

"A cache world."

"Yes. A place for them to keep their toys, their weapons and their discards." Sinestro gave Lex a bland look, "Think about their choice of terminology for Korugar for a moment."

Lex frowned as little hints dropped over the years and Sinestro's own, most prominent physical characteristic spelled things out for him. "I can't help but notice you have rather prominent cranial development. That's not common among your people is it?"

"No." Sinestro said flatly.

"So did they-?" Lex began to ask, his curiosity having gotten the better of him, but Sinestro cut him off.

"There were laboratories. They never bothered with permission. Lesser beings were to be used and exploited. They didn't need to be told what was being done to them."

"Monstrous." Lex whispered.

"Knowing this, I destroyed their labs. I barricaded Korugar, sealed my world against their touch and they called me traitor." His voice was bitter and self-mocking. "But I am as they made me. The sins of the father live on in the son."

"Quoting Earth scripture?" Lex raised an eyebrow.

"There is a similar saying on my home world." He shrugged, then delivered another vicious kick to the face of the beach ball Lantern who was trying to crawl away. The gurgling stopped. Sinestro seemed completely unaffected. "I will admit they did produce something far better than the original source material."

A voice sounded in Lex's ear as the image of John Stewart appeared in green before Lex. "I've started reprogramming."

"How many?" Lex asked.

"We have about three hundred rings in all." John looked embarrassed. "I think I can do them in batches of thirty. About a minute for each batch."

Lex prodded, "What's the problem then?"

"Just... this just seems too easy." John said quietly.

"Of course they made them convenient for Guardians to work with." Lex snorted. "Just send me the original and at least two from your first batch. I'm making the arrangements for the wielders now."

Sinestro grinned hugely at Lex as the image of John faded out. "You have Stewart working for you?"

Lex nodded. "Once they understood the stakes, all the Lanterns from Earth signed up."

Sinestro laughed. "Perfect. I can guess what these weapons are, especially if everyone's slipped their leash."

Lex asked, "I'm surprised you never tried to persuade other Lanterns with what you knew."

"But I did try. Jordan actually was on my side for a while until the Guardians got to him. They smoothed away those memories and patched up the holes. He's one of my greatest disappointments." Sinestro suddenly added brightly, "At least he was until he tried his own bid to kill them. Which resulted in my last death, so perhaps that wasn't the best example either."

Lex nodded idly and bent over to pick up the crumpled Lanterns.

"What're you going to do with them?" Sinestro asked mildly.

"Some of our allies are still under the impression that its possible to do this without anyone getting hurt." Lex replied as he walked across the cell, bearing the bodies until he was beneath the hole in the ceiling. "Their naivete is adorable. I know you have... issues, but let's not disabuse them of the notion until after they deliver your weapons."

Sinestro shrugged, "As you like."

Lex raised the former lanterns up, one in each hand. The metal rod still stuck out awkwardly from the humanoid's head.

The gravity manipulators made the action of lifting two hundred some odd pounds of dead weight in each hand easy. A few quick programming changes armed the linear accelerator function of his field, bringing it alive once more. The limp bodies were sent flying up and out of the openings Lex had created in the ceiling. If he'd done his calculations correctly, the bodies would be out of the atmosphere in a few minutes, assuming they held together. If they survived to reach the outer atmosphere, the odds were good that they would either get mistaken for casualties of the battle or the ensuing reentry would eliminate the corpus. He smiled sourly and had to just hope that Stewart was harried enough to not notice the blood on Sinestro and on the floor. Lex's fields kept his hands clean.

Stewart's face reappeared before Lex, but the holographic image was no longer green. It was gold. "First batch is complete." He said, holding up a handful of rings for Lex to see.

"Perfect." Lex gestured, triggering a slide portal and pulled three rings into his own hand, looking as though he'd grabbed them from the hologram. "Keep working."

"My estimates about how long it will take were off. I should be able to finish these faster now." John said. There was a weird strain in his voice and Lex noted that his eyes seemed to be glowing. "Seriously faster. I might even be able to have them all done in the next six minutes or so."

"It could be the changes Rayner and Jordan are doing. It's not surprising that it would attune to your desires." Lex admitted speculatively. He let his glance wander down to the parameter in the corner of his vision. 99.57%. Almost there.

John nodded, but he seemed distant and filled with nervous energy. "It feels... eager. I don't know how else to describe it."

"Are you alright?" Lex asked.

John nodded, "I feel like I'm getting filled up. It's just... taking some getting used to. I gave Kilowog and Gardener their own rings." He added almost defiantly. "They could lead the charge."

Lex clucked his tongue thoughtfully, then replied. "You know they're not going to be able to be as harsh as they'll need to be. There are a thousand Lanterns up there right this moment, all brain-washed into brutal aggression. Another six thousand still inbound. We'll have three hundred if we're lucky. Even with the partial yellow vulnerability, that will still be over two hundred Green Lanterns to every single one that we will have." Lex shook his head. "I need you here to keep the Guardians contained. Jordan and Rayner need to finish their work. Kilowog might be a fine trainer, but he won't be as aggressive as he'll need to be. He trained most of those people up there. Gardner's a good one to lead a charge, but you and I both know he's better as a battering ram than as an actual field commander."

"But still... Sinestro is-" John began to say, but Lex cut him off once more.

"This is really not the time." Lex said more harshly than he intended. "You got another chance after Xanshi. Jordan got another chance after he killed the entire universe. I'm taking my chance to make things better now. Sinestro deserves a chance to make his own amends."

John had no response, only a stony, stubborn silence.

Lex's voice dropped to a whisper. "The longer we argue about this, the more people are going to die. I have enough deaths on my conscience. Don't you?"

"Fine. But I'll be watching. He takes one step out of line..." John allowed the threat to taper off before his image vanished.

Off to the side, Sinestro had his arms crossed as he eyed Luthor thoughtfully. "You consider this a chance for me to redeem myself?"

"It could be. Or simply an opportunity for you to take some of your frustrations out in a useful way." Lex shrugged. "You were a good Green Lantern Corps Officer, once upon a time. You still have that in you, despite everything. You could still use that."

Sinestro gave Lex a tiny, warm smile and clapped him heartily on the shoulder. "You... I never would have imagined you would be such a sap."

Lex chuckled, "You don't seriously mean you bought into that, did you?"

"I'm amazed you managed to do it with a straight face considering the blood from the two Lanterns I just killed hasn't even dried yet."

"You're efficient. And ruthless. That is more useful to us right now than your redemption." Lex said with a nod. "If that also happens along the way, then so be it."

Lex nonchalantly flicked a single golden ring towards Sinestro. He grinned broadly while it was in mid-air and made no move to catch it, but instead held his hand out. The ring shot towards his outstretched finger and pulsed with bright golden power. "Ahhh... did you miss me?" He cooed at the ring lovingly as it settled on his hand. "I certainly missed you."

Lex fought down a smile. "You're not going to call it 'my precious' are you?"

Sinestro quirked an eyebrow, "Beg pardon?"

"Never mind. Earth joke."

Sinestro frowned thoughtfully as he raised the closed fist that his ring was on. "You've made changes to the operating parameters?"

Lex shrugged. "Nothing that should affect it in actual combat. But we did need to adapt a personalized weapon into something that could be used in under a minute by a complete novice. I mean the default language was Korugaran. We at least had to route communications through the translator function."

Sinestro nodded. "And I can expect at least another three hundred on the way?"

"They're being created as we speak." Lex smirked.

"Very well then. Let's drum up some recruits." Sinestro raised his beringed hand. "But this will simply not do if I'm going to be leading my own corps." Energy flashed around the Korugaran and his outfit began to change. The blood wicked away from him as the black and blue outfit transformed into something that looked faintly like a Green Lantern uniform, only in gold and a much more military cut. If anything it vaguely resembled Lex's armor, save for the insignia, seemed to be a color-reversed version of the Green Lantern symbol in black and gold.

Lex nodded approvingly. "Smashing. I'm sure you will be a big hit with all the ladies."

"They do so love a man in uniform." Sinestro flashed a grin as he floated into the air, buoyed up by an aura of golden power. He made a negligent swipe of his hand and a gigantic golden hand swatted aside the wall behind Lex, opening the cell entirely to the star-shot sky. He shot out of the non-existent wall and floated up and out of Lex's sight.

His sensors still had Sinestro in view when the entire building began to shake.

Lex could see the energy patterns and had an inkling as to what he had in mind. A bit of showmanship to dazzle the locals and make it as clear as possible why he was going to be in charge. He wished he could pay closer attention to the show, but he had his own side of recruitment that needed to be dealt with.

Now that he had some limited privacy, he switched the comm system back on. "Oracle. It's Lex."

"You promised me reinforcements, Lex. I need those reinforcements." Her voice was sharp, despite the electronic distortion.

"Sorry. We're working on it. The field commander's about to rally his troops but the weapons are slightly delayed. How much longer can you hold on?"

"They're taking a pounding up there, but we're actually lucky. The Lanterns aren't fighting with any coherent tactics or strategy. They're rushing in and blasting anything in sight. Including each other. I've got the fleet watching one another's backs, fighting defensively... but they won't be able to keep it up."

"There's something you need to know about the reinforcements." Lex said. "Sinestro will be leading them."

The holographic image betrayed nothing, but Lex was certain he could feel her surprise radiating from across the light years.

"As interesting as he can be to work with, I trust him about as far as I can throw him."

"A lot of people say the same about you." She replied.

"I know, but I need someone to keep an eye on him."

"Are you asking me to-"

"Everyone trusts you. Angel speaks very highly of you and frankly after today, I'm very impressed. I'd ask the other Lanterns, but they're occupied or have too much history with him. You at least will apply an appropriate level of... restraint."

"How exactly do you expect me to keep my eye on him?" The voice was exasperated now, but an undercurrent of amusement had crept in. "Even if I did, what could I do from here?"

"Well it has to do with the reinforcements we're expecting." Lex said with a grin. "Someone needs to coordinate them so that they don't get in the way of the blockade fleet as well, to that end..." Lex allowed his words to taper off as he pushed one golden ring through a slide portal opened literally at Oracle's lap.

The microphone picked up her surprised gasp and the ring's voice, a warm, friendly baritone rather than the flat noninflected tones of Green Lantern rings, began to speak.

"Barbara Gordon of Earth, Sector 2814. Your life has not been your own. Take. It. Back. Welcome to the Gold Lantern Corps."

"Wha-"

There was a surge of static and the thin green lines of the neon mask seemed to melt and change to gold, before cracking entirely and the holographic image of an attractive redhead in glasses wearing a Gold Lantern uniform replaced it. Her glasses suddenly changed, becoming more like a visor rather than the horn-rims they had been.

Lex grinned. "Perfect."

"What did you do!" She demanded, and Lex noted idly that she wasn't sitting anymore.

"How do your toes feel?" He asked mildly.

She stared, then glanced down, lifting first one leg, then the other. "I... you..."

"You have a job. Focus. You can worry about the implications later. Which reminds me... you asked how you could keep a leash on Sinestro?"

"Yes." She said numbly.

Lex called up the image of Stewart once more. His eyes were glowing even brighter, like pools of pure light. "Yes, Lex? I'm almost done." He asked with just a touch of impatience.

"Stewart. You're the Guardian for the new Corps, at least until we can get Rayner, Jordan and Gardener set up properly. We'll need someone with overall command rank over the regular officers."

"What did you have in-" John's glowing eyes widened and then he smiled. "I think that would be perfect."

"Wait, what're you going to-?" Oracle, Barbara began to protest.

John spoke. "By the power I have vested in myself. I hereby elevate Oracle to the rank of Corps Commander. Ring override, initiate field upgrade."

"Lex, what the-" She cursed as her ring flared into light once more, and suddenly a short, white off-shoulder cape appeared on her shoulders, held in place by gold ropes. The military cut of her uniform acquired more flares and frills. "You have got to be kidding."

"You're C & C for the whole operation." Lex said, "At the moment you're mostly piggy-backed on my equipment, sensors and comms. Stewart, please read my surface thoughts and transfer the information to the Commander. She's going to need an equipment upgrade."

Oracle winced and behind her visor, her eyes widened. "Oh." Her image gestured and the mask, now golden and sporting the Lantern sigil on its forehead, reasserted itself.

"It might help if Sinestro never finds out that there's an actual person behind that mask." John said.

Lex nodded his agreement, then glanced down once more. 100%.

"Lex, I just had a report come in that the Eternal Flame at the Coast City Memorial just flared to five times it's original size and turned gold." Oracle said, snapping Lex out of his musings.

"I'm going to have to leave this in your hands." He grinned. "That was the last bit of confirmation I needed. Time for the endgame."

Lex rose into the air and floated back out of the Sciencell facility. He exited just in time to see Sinestro rip the entire wall from the building, exposing all the cells to the open air. Lex was a little too far to make out what exactly it was Sinestro was saying, but the words, "Chance for vengeance." as well as, "Our time to rise." were occurring prominently.

He glanced over his shoulder as he shot away from the now gutted building in time to see golden motes begin to float towards individual prisoners. This reminded him of the spare Gold ring he had in his hand. He opened another portal and slid it to its destination, then gave it no more thought. After all, he had a date with destiny at the Central Battery.


	24. Chapter 24

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 24**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Lex awoke slowly. His head was pounding. His ribs ached. The rest of him felt badly bruised and even the silk sheets sliding off his skin hurt as he rose to a sitting position. The room was dim, but even so he could feel size.

This room had... well... a lot of room in it.

The bed he was in was large and soft. Not his bed back in the warehouse. His back told him this had the feel of some sort of synthetic fill material. The mattress of his bed was down. So... Not home. He thought to himself.

His memories were a jumbled mess. Flashes of desperate battles. Laughing... no, gloating at Superman. Desperate gunshots, tearing Manhunters apart. A profusion of golden sparks rising over a red horizon into a night sky shot with green. Mercy manhandling a dwarf into a wooden crate. Batgirl, his angel with her mask off, wearing just her pants and sports bra offering him a drink from her cupped hands. Holding his daughter in his arms for the first time. Standing in front of Superman's tomb, with tears in his eyes, a full head of hair weighing his head down. Green hands accepting Lena as she stared up at him with trusting eyes. A muddled image of a woman's gold ringed hand grasping his own. The slide panel gleaming white as it revealed the damage inside his skull...

Nothing much that made sense. Memories. He knew they were memories, but his sense of time had taken a horrendous beating. Everything seemed distant and strange. Quicksilver emotions just about to burst across his mind, but muted, as though something were blunting the impact of all those memories.

His eyes were open. He was sure of that much, but the room was dark. He could feel bandages on his body across his ribs. Broken again? There was another across his head. Possibly yet another concussion. More bandages around his wrist. His armor was gone, but he was definitely wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. Badly fitted ones. In fact, they were bad fitting in a familiar way. They felt like Mercy's pajamas.

He bit down as a flash of pain ran down his back, but he couldn't keep a groan from escaping from his lips. That felt vaguely familiar. Pulled muscles in his lower back, he was sure. Next to him there was a gasp and a familiar voice said in evident relief, "You're awake!"

Lex focused on the source of the voice. Someone feminine who'd been sitting next to the bed. He caught a whiff of vanilla and lilies. She'd been slumped into some sort of large chair. He winced as the lights came on and he was blinded once again. Matters of vision were not improved by the fact that he suddenly found himself in a painfully tight embrace that was pressing his head into a rather impressive... and familiar... bosom.

"Eve..." he croaked weakly through a throat that seemed far too dry. "Where-?"

She smothered the top of his bald head with kisses and cradled him close. "Shh... you're on the Moonraker. You were touch and go for a while, but you're going to be fine."

"What happ-?" He began to ask, but Eve was speaking into thin air. Well, Lex supposed it was thin air, she hadn't let go of his head yet so he couldn't see what exactly she was doing.

"Doctor? He's awake, please come down. Mercy? He's up."

He finally managed to weakly, and reluctantly pull himself away from her embrace. He got a good look at her finally and froze. Her blonde hair, which had been a gloriously tousled and untamable mop of blonde curls since he'd known her was now straight, neatly braided and hung to her waist. He considered the possibility that it was some sort of wig, but he was close enough to see where the hair pulled back from her brow. A brow that was incidentally slightly covered by a diadem of gold and crystal.

The first words that escaped at the sight were, "How long was I out?"

She smiled sweetly at him, giving him another kiss on the lips, which felt achingly familiar, but at the same time was bafflingly new. She was never quite this comfortable around him normally, was she? She wore an outfit that was expertly tailored and fitted perfectly to her lush body. It was some sort of formal pants suit with discrete bits of trim, lace and frills. Someone had worked it expertly to meld feminine glamour into a no-nonsense business attire. And a diadem, he reminded himself.

She replied. "Three days now. Mercy's been beside herself."

"I'll bet." Lex replied feeling a smile on his face.

"She's been torn between worrying and swearing that she's going to rip your legs off and beat you to death with them."

"I... I'm not sure how I ended up like this." He ventured weakly. He was mostly certain it was Eve, but he still felt as though he had a head full of cotton. Some drugs could do that, but so could a concussion.

She made a dismissive sound, holding his hand in hers. "After what you went through, you're entitled to be a little fuzzy on the details." He noted that her hand... her left hand... had a gold band on the ring finger. Wedding ring. There was an intricate worked pattern on the ring that took him a moment to identify. It looked faintly like Celtic knot work, but was built up of tiny interlocking letter L's and Green... or more accurately, Gold Lantern symbols. More new data.

In fact, the ring seemed rather similar, he thought abstractly, to the one on his own left ring finger.

He froze momentarily. Okay, let's not jump to conclusions, he chided himself. She caught his glance. "What's the matter?" She asked.

Whatever he might have said was interrupted by the door sliding open to allow a scrawnily built scarecrow of a man to burst in. He had a white lab coat that flapped elaborately as he moved and wore a bright purple suit under the coat. He was pale, had neatly trimmed blonde hair and moved with a sort of jerky energy. "Where is my patient?" He called out pleasantly, "Ooooh, Lexy! I keep telling you and telling you to protect your head and what do you do? You're on concussion number seventy eight or so by now."

Lex stared at the doctor. There was something familiar about the man, but Lex couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The doctor swept past Eve, making an elaborate flourish that revealed what seemed to be a plastic strip in his formerly empty hand. He slapped it onto Lex's forehead and produced a small hand-held device from his coat pocket. "Vitals are all good, mildly stressed, but nothing too worrisome. Lots of yummy cranial trauma, but no worrisome energy traces." He grinned at Lex and tapped him on the bandaged temple. "This means that once again our favorite patient has managed to squeak by without turning his brain into mashed potatoes. Another round of regenerative therapy should have him in fine fettle soon enough."

"Thank you, Doctor Quinn." Eve replied politely. Lex noted that despite the doctor's antics, she didn't seem to relax at all. As though she were scared of the man for some reason. Lex stared at the doctor once more and tried to remember where he'd met this man.

The grin was what threw him off. There was something almost right, but not quite in how the man smiled. His eyes widened as he finally realized who this doctor reminded him of.

"Joker." Lex said flatly.

'Doctor Quinn' drew back, startled. "You haven't called me that in years, Lex." His grin faded and Lex could recognize him clearly now. There was something very off about him. Not just his coloring. He was a wreck the last time Lex had seen him. Sane, but wracked with guilt. This... 'Doctor Quinn' seemed a tad eccentric, but did not have the murderous, chaotic intensity that the Joker always exuded.

"What do I normally call you?" Lex asked in confusion.

"Joe. Or Doctor Quinn." He said thoughtfully. "And once you called me 'sweetums', but you were on some heavy drugs at the time."

Eve seemed confused, "Lex, Doctor Quinn's been looking after you for years."

"He's the Joker, he's not a doctor!" Lex replied incredulously.

Doctor Quinn sniffed and crossed his arms, "I'll admit I got my diploma from a diploma mill, but I do have more experience with traumatic injuries than any ten interns you'd care to name. And not just causing them."

Eve turned to the Doctor, "Did this concussion affect his memory?"

Quinn seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Could be. Could very well be."

Lex closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. "You said I've only been out for three days, but there's no possible way the Joker could've gotten a medical degree since the last time I remember seeing him. And why are you calling yourself Quinn?"

The pale man tapped his chin and shook his head. "You really don't remember?"

Eve had shifted at Lex's bedside and took his hand once more. "He took Harley's name after they got married."

Lex stared at them both.

"Then I decided to keep it after the divorce." Quinn shrugged elaborately. "I was quite literally not the man she fell in love with. It was an amicable parting of ways though and I didn't want to put up with the hassle of the paperwork to get my name changed back, so I'm Joseph Quinn, Medicine Man now." He gestured dismissively, "Last I heard she was on J586 with Pam helping with the reconstruction. Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't call me... by my old name." He finished with a wince.

"J589 is a populated by sentient plants... and Pam, I'm guessing you mean Pamela Isely." Lex spoke slowly puzzling through their statements. "Joe... Quinn... when I last saw you, you were coming out of a purified Lazarus pool. I had arrangements made to allow you to check into Arkham."

Eve tightened her grip on Lex's hand. "Is that the last thing you remember?" She asked. Lex could tell she was trying very hard to keep her voice level and unaffected, but there was fear and worry there. Hidden and not too well.

Lex squeezed her hand back. "No. My memories are all jumbled together... I think the last thing I remember is storming Oa. I gave Sinestro his ring, I think. At least I assume that was the latest memory I have. If I had memories from later, I can't put them into context."

Quinn looked thoughtful. Lex still couldn't quite get used to the blonde hair, which now that he was paying attention showed faint green roots. "Lex, you talked me into the pit nearly a century ago."

Lex stared. "No, seriously."

"Yes, seriously. It's been around ninety years since the siege of Oa, which if I remember right happened around that time. I was drugged up to my eyeballs then, but-" he made a dismissive noise. "After the Hammer fell, no one would shut up about it."

"What hammer?" Lex asked, baffled.

Eve hugged Lex, "A lot happened since Oa. Um... I'm not even sure where to begin explaining."

"The beginning would be good?" Lex said distantly.

Quinn held a finger up. "I'd like to point out that this actually might do him some good and jog his memory. Being around familiar things, places and people does a world of good for amnesiacs. Keep it simple, let him try and figure it out himself, but correct him if necessary."

Lex glanced from one then the other expectantly.

"You won at Oa. That much should be obvious." Eve said delicately, "But Earth paid."

"What happened?" He asked tightly.

"The asteroids that were being rained down on Earth were partly to get the Justice League complacent."

Quinn looked sober. "Once they had a rhythm going, one of the big rocks they shot turned out to be kryptonite. A big honking chunk of kryptonite with a thin layer of lead."

"Oh, damn." Lex said softly.

Quinn nodded as Eve continued. "Superman managed to hit it just right to shatter it before they lost contact with him. Most people think he vaporized when he reentered Earth's atmosphere. A few factions think that he's still alive, but in hiding, looking for a way to redeem his shame."

"Which shame would that be?"

"Not all the pieces missed. A few of the kryptonite fragments still made it to Earth. Captain Marvel and Captain Atom were able to stop two, but Black Adam was killed when his fragment broke in two while it was in the upper atmosphere. One piece completely destroyed Beijing and the entire surrounding area. The larger piece hit the American Northeast."

"How bad?"

"The Northern Chinese Plain was wiped off the map. New Jersey was completely destroyed."

"Just New Jersey?" He asked incredulously.

Eve replied slowly. "The state, sweetie. The entire state of New Jersey. Along with large parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut. All gone from the initial impact. The tsunami wiped out what survived, including New Hampshire, Maine, Virginia and Washington DC. Except for a few isolated islands, what used to be the American Northeast is underwater. West Virginia is part of the new East coast."

Lex eyed Quinn sharply, "How did you survive? Weren't you in Arkham at the time?"

Eve replied for the pale man who looked rather embarrassed. "Commander Gordon."

"Who?" Lex asked, baffled.

"The first human you gave a Gold Lantern ring to. Barbara Gordon. Oracle." She clarified. "She realized what was happening and created a shield that saved Gotham, some parts of Metropolis and about half of Bludhaven."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "But she couldn't make it any larger? That's all she was able to save?"

She frowned at the implied criticism in his tone. "She'd had about an hour to get used to the ring at that point. She barely knew what she was doing," Eve said. "Making a shield that big, that strong for as long as she held it, gave her a stroke. She almost died saving as much as she did."

"What happened then?" Lex asked. This all seemed like an absurd joke. Lex kept waiting for the punchline, but it seemed to be taking forever to show itself.

"Oracle got a message out to you before she collapsed. But you arrived a day later."

"With Metropolis gone I wouldn't have been able to slide back." Lex said slowly, making it as much a question as a statement.

Eve nodded, "You swooped in on Earth leading hundreds of Gold Lanterns and a fleet of alien space ships. Between those, you were able to keep the secondary effects from the Hammerfall from causing any more damage. Neutralized the kryptonite in the atmosphere and in the seawater, kept the dust from starting a nuclear winter, minimized the aftershocks... The casualties still numbered in the hundreds of millions... but you kept it from being in the billions." Her voice had fallen to a soft whisper. Quinn seemed to take that as his cue to leave and withdrew quietly.

Lex's face was a mask of concern. "We rebuilt after that, right? I'm sure we must have. We always rebuild."

She smiled and took both his hands in hers, before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "We did. You led the reconstruction in China. Most of the efforts in the US centered on Gotham by default. Bruce Wayne took over running everything on that coast. The mid-east erupted in violence but Ra's al Ghul took over the area and forced peace on them."

"Not Ra's... Junior, right? Ra's was in upstate New York."

"You remember? Yes, Junior with Ra's face took control before naming you his heir and withdrawing from public view." She smiled at the memory. "He was happy to be able to stop being The Demon's Head after all those years. Gorilla City revealed itself to help with the African relief efforts."

Lex tried to absorb that. They always were secretive... there were a handful of humans who might have persuaded them, Lex might have if Grodd had been in a good mood, but more thoughts tickled at his recollection. "Flash talked them into it."

Eve nodded and smiled. "You are remembering. Back in the US, with Washington DC gone from the map, Amanda Waller took control of the Government and relocated to Coast City where some of the Lanterns you'd brought with you decided to settle."

"Wait... Waller ended up as President?" Lex was incredulous.

"She called herself President Pro Tem while she had power." Eve replied with a small moue of distaste at the mention of the woman's name. "Originally, the Senate and Congress survived in one of the bunkers under Washington, but those were built to deal with direct nuclear strikes, not earthquakes. The bunkers cracked when the bedrock underneath them shifted. When the floodwaters came in, everyone inside drowned."

"Pete Ross should've been able to get out," Lex asked, still desperately trying to poke holes in the story. It just seemed too fantastic, but he could see it happen in his mind's eye. Too terrible to believe.

"The Secret Service did try to evacuate him. Air Force One crashed from the storm systems the Hammerfall created."

"But he was supposed to have used the White House Transporters. That was the entire point of setting that up in the first place. I know for a fact that they didn't take the system out when I left office." He pointed out.

"No one had kept up the maintenance schedule after you left, Lex." She said sadly. "The first Secret Service agent who went through the transporter ended up with his lungs three feet to the left of the rest of his body."They had to evacuate Ross on Air Force One, but no one had counted on the winds tearing it to shreds."

Lex closed his eyes and settled back into his bed, rubbing wearily at his eyes. "This all happened ninety years ago."

"Yes."

Lex opened his eyes and looked straight into those lovely blue eyes of hers. She seemed almost exactly the same as he remembered her from the days back in the warehouse in Metropolis. Obviously that was gone now. Her eyes were almost exactly the same save that they were now flecked with gold and there was something in them. Wisdom? Weariness? No... Her eyes were simply... old. Older than even he could easily credit. There was a look there that did not belong on the face of a young woman.

He could almost believe the story just from how she looked. "Eve... you look..." he chuckled weakly, "You look absolutely incredible for a woman past her first century."

She smiled back and ducked in to plant another comfortable, familiar kiss on the corner of his mouth. Her laugh was light as she beeped him on the nose. "Genetic surgery to reset my body clock and a good moisturizer before bed. With the procedures we pulled out of the Cadmus database, we think we can keep humans alive and in good condition for a couple of millennia. We haven't really had a chance to test that yet since we've only been using them routinely for the past fifty years or so."

"These are readily available treatments?"

"Not entirely. The process is expensive and difficult to implement. Distribution of the procedure is entirely government controlled. Unless a citizen has shown a reason to deserve being offered the anti-agathic treatments, they can't get it."

Lex looked particularly agitated at this. "Government control of age-treatments. What qualifies someone to be 'deserving'?"

"Government or military service usually." She said negligently. "If they display sufficient value at their work to get age treatment as part of the benefits package."

"Who decides?" He pressed.

"There's a bureaucracy that handles the day to day decisions involved," She gave him an impish grin. "Ultimately, you do."

"What... I'm the government?"

As if on cue, the door to the room opened once more.

"Is it him?" A cool female voice asked before its owner stepped into the room.

Eve gave a broad, fond smile at the woman stepping through the door. "It seems like him. He does genuinely seem to have forgotten almost everything before the Hammerfall, but every other reaction shows as genuine. What did Quinn find?"

Mercy strode up to the bed and Lex could only stare. She replied, "Quinn confirms that genetics and bio-metrics are still a match. No physical abnormalities that might indicate outside control."

Lex looked as though he were about to say something, but the sight of Mercy had left him stunned. She seemed a half-foot taller than he remembered until he realized that the heavy, armored boots she wore had raised heels that increased her already impressive height considerably. She was dressed in a black and gold armored top that vaguely resembled the one he'd worn to Oa. On her legs were gold armored plates up to her mid thighs, where against all reason, they stopped, showing a flash of creamy white thigh for an inch or so, before being interrupted by a mini-skirt. Strapped high on one thigh was something that was vaguely shaped like a handgun, but not only scaled to her epic size, but big even for that. On a belt loop dangled a long gold rod with a black, leather handle. Her red hair was drawn into its customary bun and hidden into a hat that Lex had initially mistaken for her chauffer's hat, but he realized that the this hat had insignia on it. Something resembling a laurel wreath and the intertwined Lantern Symbol and L in the center of the wreath.

Next to her was a shorter individual, but only in comparison to Mercy herself. The other person was slight of build and could have been either male or female, as the full length cloak they wore hid every possible feature. A hooded cowl hid their face, but from what Lex could see, even without it, the head within was covered by a completely featureless expanse of opaque material. Something shiny and leathery.

"Mercy?" Lex asked incredulously.

She held a hand up and snapped coldly, "Don't talk to me until I'm sure." She glanced down to the smaller figure next to her. "Well?"

It nodded, and then moved in closer to Lex. Lex pulled back but ran into the bed's headrest.

"Smallville." The figure said in a whispery voice that did nothing to betray its gender.

Lex stared back. "What?"

"Matrix."

"What are you talking about?"

"Necron."

Lex frowned as he realized that the sensation behind his eyes was the feel of telepathic fingers plucking at his mind. His fist clenched and he looked as though he was about punch out the well hidden creature when it pulled back and moved next to Mercy.

"Milady, the reflexive scan indicates that he believes he is Lex Luthor, even if his recollections of the past ninety years or so are patchy due to his injuries."

Lex made a choking noise.

"Obviously," Mercy said dismissively. "What about the countersigns?"

"His subconscious made the appropriate responses." The whispery voice acknowledged. "There's no ongoing telepathic influence and the only post-hypnotic commands implanted are ones that were implanted by the Inquisition."

Lex shot to his feet, standing on the bed with the sheets wrapped around himself like a roman toga. "Alright, what the devil is going on here? Mercy? I demand an explanation."

The smaller figure fell to one knee and bowed its head low. "The Imperial Inquisition serves at the Emperor's pleasure."

Mercy rushed from her position, leaping onto the bed to grab Lex up into a rib grinding embrace before kissing him deeply and thoroughly.

A minute later a stunned and dazed Lex found himself being treated to a similar deep kiss from Eve.

He found himself collapsed back onto the bed with Mercy and Eve cuddled on either side of him. "What just happened?" Lex asked, completely baffled.

Mercy smacked him hard in his bruised ribs before replying. "That's for letting yourself get hurt again, you louse. I know you don't remember it, but you promised you would take better care of yourself if I left it up to you."

Eve patted her hand across Lex's chest, in an obviously familiar manner. Lex realized, almost without surprise now, that Mercy wore a similar ring to Eve's. It was not a Gold Lantern ring, despite the designs chased on it. He was certain of that much. Those were wedding rings. Then... why were they cuddling him? "Be fair, sweetie. At least he came back alive this time."

Mercy gave a sigh and snuggled into the crook of Lex's neck deeper. "I suppose so."

Lex also realized that the smaller cowled figure was still kneeling on the floor and shot his demand at it, since the women were ignoring him as much as they were pleasantly smothering him. "You. Explain."

"I do not know what you wish me to explain, your Imperial Majesty." It replied in its whispery voice without rising, "How the Empresses choose to welcome their beloved husband is entirely at their discretion. The Imperial Inquisition is renowned for their... discretion."

"Empresses?" Lex echoed hollowly. "Husband?"

Mercy gave an outraged noise and smacked Lex in the chest. "You cannot have possibly forgotten being married."

"Um... head injury? Remember?"

Mercy made a dismissive noise. "You're going to be milking that for days if we let you. Excuses."

Eve tutted gently, "Now, now... he did take on a god singlehandedly. He should be allowed a little latitude."

Mercy sighed then looked over Lex's chest and asked Eve incredulously. "I thought you were trying to get him caught up?"

Eve shrugged from where she was. "I'd only gotten just a little past the Hammerfall. I wasn't anywhere near that bit about our wedding yet."

Mercy laughed. "Well, as the creepy little Double Eye is right." She grinned and kissed Lex on the cheek, "Hi, honey. Welcome home."

"When did we... that is... both of you?" Lex still looked dazed.

Eve laughed, "Actually you married me first back when you were only in control of Asia. There had been talk after you'd gotten declared emperor that it wasn't acceptable that you would remain unmarried."

Lex frowned as something in her statement seemed to trigger a recollection. "Protests. Students marching on the streets?"

"Something like that." Mercy said. "Just peaceful demonstrations. With well-meaning, if insistent placards."

"It was one of the strangest protests in Chinese History. They called it the Valentine's Day March."

Lex looked pained, "There were signs with my name on them a heart shape and various women's names, weren't there?"

"You do remember!" Eve said delightedly.

"Most of the names on the signs were yours, weren't they?" Lex asked Eve slowly.

Eve ran her hand down her braid. "I was the leading contender, yes."

"Hey, I was a close second, I'll have you know." Mercy mock-snarled. She added with a smug tone, "I came in ahead of Wonder Woman."

Lex stared even more. "I married you... because people were protesting me being single?"

Eve grinned. "Well, you tried your best to explain to me that that wasn't what you were doing, but you laid it out so logically and so persuasively, that even if I hadn't already been in love with you then, I would've ended up marrying you anyway."

"Oh." Lex still didn't seem settled.

Mercy laughed, "Actually you got had, Lex. What dear, sweet Eve here has failed to tell you is that the whisper campaign that circulated through most of China and set off the marches was her doing. She got you to ask her to marry you while making it look like it was all your idea."

Lex stared at them. "I... I'm starting to remember that. Getting on one knee, but I don't remember how I found out that it was her plan."

Eve sniffed, "You never would've figured it out if Mercy hadn't broken into our honeymoon suite."

"I thought you were mind-controlled!" Mercy retorted sharply.

Eve kissed the corner of Lex's mouth, "It did make for a really memorable honeymoon, though."

Mercy got a mellow grin that mirrored Eve's own. "I'll say."

"At least once we had all the gunshot wounds and the minor cuts and bruises dealt with." Eve added.

Lex was still staring. This was both them and not them. One couldn't come up with that sort of rapport and whipsaw back and forth conversation style that excluded outsiders without having been together for a long time. Lex felt he had that with Mercy and Eve on occasion, but not like this. This was... comfort. This was... two family members at home and just talking. Despite the figure still kneeling next to the bed.

"Okay, I got married... then double married, and you're both implying some rather kinky doings on the honeymoon that I really wish I could remember now-" Lex began to say. "Wait... I'm kind of remembering one or two things." He began to grin.

Mercy grinned teasingly. "Well, once your ribs heal a little more, we'll be more than happy to show you everything we did."

Eve nodded. "I'll clear a couple of days from our schedules. We'll need them."

Lex's mouth shut with a snap and his eyes glazed over again, but he recovered faster this time. "What exactly am I Emperor of, and what is he... or she?" Lex tried to point, but both his arms were pinned.

The figure intoned, "You are God-Emperor Alexander the First of the Grand and Glorious Terran Empire. All hail. I am a Mentat of the Imperial Inquisition, tasked with the Emperor and the Empire's well-being."

"Oh, Imperial Inquisition. Double Eye. I get it." Lex said. "Also called Big Brother Eye, right?"

There was a nod from the dark figure.

Mercy added, "Think of them as a combination of the Secret Service, Internal Affairs Department and your own personal rational-humanist cult.

"That last part doesn't even make sense," Lex said skeptically. He mouthed to Eve and Mercy, "God-Emperor?"

Lex wasn't sure how he knew the kneeling Mentat was grinning, but he knew it nevertheless, "Your Imperial Majesty, what it means is that if you order one of us to kill ourselves, we will consider the order and if we concur with your logic on the necessity of the command, we will ask you with joy in our hearts how you would prefer that we die. We worship you as the epitome of human accomplishment and an ideal to strive for. Our task is to ensure the Empire and the Emperor are inviolate, healthy and uncompromised."

"So the whole rigmarole earlier were identity confirmation routines." Lex asked.

"Indeed. You would not believe how many times we run into attempts to take control of your mind or replace you. The amnesia gambit had also been attempted before."

Mercy said seriously, "I wasn't going to shove my tongue down your throat before making sure it was the right throat."

"I appreciate your thoroughness." Lex smirked.

Eve replied, "Both in confirming his identity and in the welcome."

Mercy raised an eyebrow at the black clad Mentat, "Why are you still here, anyway?"

"I was not dismissed, Milady."

"Oh. Get out of here. The Empresses wish to give his Imperial Majesty a more thorough welcome." Mercy gave a wicked smirk as she reached up to take her hat off and allow her hair to cascade loosely down her shoulders. As she did so the Mentat rose to its feet and began to withdraw respectfully.

Eve held a hand up. "Wait, Mercy. We can't quite yet. We've got one more person on her way to check in on him now that he's up."

Mercy looked curious for a moment before a grin broke out on her face. "He wouldn't remember her."

"Yes." Eve smiled and snuggled into Lex's side. "I want to see your face when she gets here."

"When who gets here?" Lex asked curiously. "Not another wife?"

Mercy chuckled. "No, the two of us are almost more than you can handle as is."

The door slid open once more and this time what was revealed was a young girl with a worried expression on her face. Once she spotted that Lex was awake, her face lit up instantly and she took off like a shot, rushing forward to embrace him and further bruise his already abused ribs.

Lex had barely gotten a look at her before she'd blurred and slammed into him. Curly red hair in a pair of ponytails. A bright, brassy red unlike the ginger in Mercy's hair. Green eyes. Familiar ones, Lex thought to himself. She was wearing something that vaguely resembled Mercy's business princess attire, but there was a gold rod like Mercy's dangling from one hip. The gold rod which was even at that moment digging into his thigh as she snuggled into his still pained chest.

He glanced down and was treated to nothing more than a mop of red hair. "Uh... wha?" He began to ask as he finally realized what those eyes and that hair had reminded him of.

Him. His hair had been like that once. A long time ago. Longer now than he even remembered. Those were his eyes that had lit up when she smiled. She looked up at him, still smiling now and their eyes met. She was sixteen at most. Her features were delicate, but regal. The Contessa's cheekbones, he realized. She was beautiful, but there was an undeniable Luthor-ness to her features. The slightly superior twitch at the corner of her mouth even as she smiled warmly.

The eyes. Those were his eyes. Her eyes. The same ones...

"Father, you finally woke up!" She said brightly, cutting off the rest of his thoughts. His mind had gone blank the only thing that he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat and her name playing over and over in his mind in a disbelieving chant.

"Lena." He managed to choke out before his throat closed and he couldn't find any more words. He freed his hands from Mercy and Eve easily as both women moved aside to let them have their moment. His arms closed around her and he held her. She was a teen. But he knew her. He knew every feature, every inch. The dimple in her cheek when she smiled for him. His little Lena. His daughter who should have been dead.

He knew her with sudden clarity. Absolute and perfect clarity.

He could only barely summon the vaguest recollections of his wedding, but he could remember changing her diapers in terrifying detail.

He remembered holding her in his arms after the rescue. Nano-active nutrient fluid still gleamed on her skin from the vat Brainiac 13 had kept her in. Although that made no sense... he remembered her dead. He remembered the green bastard had taken her away to her death when she was barely one year old.

He remembered how she smiled when she'd spoken her first word... it had been "monosaccharide". He'd been so proud. He remembered her gone.

He could recall details. Like the pink dress she'd loved to wear to the point that she'd reduced it to rags by her fifth birthday, and that when he'd had another dress exactly like it commissioned, only larger, and tried to slip it was the same dress, she'd declared it a forgery and promptly demanded that he pay for his trickery with ice cream.

He remembered her seven year old experiments with bakery and what she called 'gastronomic chemistry'. He remembered the stomach pump afterwards when he'd eaten her creations despite all rational reasons not to.

He remembered the crush she'd had on her bodyguard when she was eight. Then when he'd gently told her that it wouldn't work out, as Lex had ordered, Lena had promptly demanded that her father have him executed. Slowly. Lex quietly had the poor man moved to another facility where she would never see him again.

He remembered when she figured it out a week later and forgave both him and the body guard. Lex couldn't remember the man's name, but he could remember that she'd filled a notebook with a flowchart regarding her plans for getting him to fall in love with her. This prompted another demand for ice cream when she found out that he'd been prying into her notebooks.

She'd built her first robot at twelve. It had tried to threaten Lex with decapitation, but fortunately, she'd built it to use house current so all he'd had to do to shut it off was to pull the plug. Literally.

So many memories. All so clear, even though the context surrounding them just seemed to melt into a blur in his mind's eye.

"Father?" She asked worriedly as he cried silently into her shoulder. Mercy and Eve traded uneasy glances, even as she glanced over to the women, desperate for an answer.

"His memory was affected when he woke up." Eve said, smiling quietly.

Mercy chuckled lightly. "He forgot our honeymoon but he remembers Lena, it looks like."

Lena made an indignant noise as she patted her father's bald head, before giving the other redheaded woman a cheeky grin. "That's because father loves me best."

Eve shook her head and tutted at the girl. "Now, now... remember what I told you about taunting Mercy?"

She gave an air of mock contriteness. "Not where other people are liable to become casualties, Mother Eve."

"Good girl," Eve said approvingly.

"I'll shoot you later." Mercy said with casual menace.

The girl stuck her tongue out, "Not if I shoot you first, Mother Mercy."

Lex took in this byplay as he did his best to reel his suddenly out of control emotions back. "Sorry... I... had something in... my eye." He barely managed to choke out with injured dignity as he straightened up, still holding his daughter... his daughter, his mind roared at him... in his arms.

She turned her sunny grin on him and kissed his cheek. "They're called tears, Father. You do know you are allowed to shed them."

He smiled back weakly, drinking in the sight of her. Almost all grown up. He'd watched her grow up. "No, no... I'm God Emperor to the Terran Empire. I don't think I'm allowed to cry."

She made a dismissive gesture that was pure Mercy, despite the tiny bit of New Jersey in her voice that could only have come from learning to talk from Eve. "Father, you're ruler of an Empire that encompasses a dozen galaxies and it's growing every day. You can do what you want. Who would tell you no?"

Lex smiled warmly and felt suddenly at peace. The nagging doubts at the back of his mind quieted. The urgent desire to relearn all he had forgotten seemed less intense. The Empire and its functioning were suddenly overshadowed by the importance of what he had in this one room.

He was at home. The God Emperor was in his bed and all was right with the world. Lex leaned in and kissed Lena's forehead. "I get the feeling there are precisely three people in the Empire who could tell me no and make it stick. They also all happen to be in this room right this moment."

Mercy lovingly rubbed Lex's head then leaned in and kissed the top of it. "Isn't he a clever boy? I told you he was clever, didn't I Eve-honey?"

"You certainly did, sweetie." Ever replied, snuggling closer once more. "He probably deserves a treat."

Lena made a disgusted face, then stuck her tongue out. "I figured out the whole biological side of that when I was six, but it's still really embarrassing hearing you talk about that when I'm in the room. Just molest Father after I leave, please?"

"Deal," Mercy and Eve both cried out, before falling to laugher.

Lex's tears, though they had stopped were still visible by the wet tracks they'd left on his cheeks. "I'm home," He whispered.

O-O-O-O

It was hours later. Lex was feeling much better as whatever pain killers he'd been given had finally kicked in. His wives and daughter had left just an hour ago. They all had duties to deal with. Mercy it turned out was Captain of the Moonraker, which served both as the Empire's equivalent of Air Force One as well as its flagship. The room gave no indication of it, but the ship itself was almost a mile long and loaded with enough weaponry to burn a planet down to its bedrock. That wasn't even mentioning the troops that she carried were more than sufficient to occupy the burnt out cinder afterwards. These were necessary things his wives had explained. The Empire was growing. Thriving. There were hundreds of thousands of worlds under the Terran Empire, but there were millions more unaligned or actively opposing their expansion.

This all gave Eve a lot of Empire to run. She served as the head of the Administratum whenever Lex was otherwise occupied.

Mercy and Eve had tried to explain the military and political organization of the Empire to a befuddled Lex, but the intricacies of Imperial Bureaucracy and the varied Imperial Military Corps services was a bit much for Lex to take in all at once so soon after his recovery. Their conversations had turned to more personal things about what had happened to them and to people they knew over the decades.

Through it all, Lena had stayed with them and happily bantered with her father and two mothers. Lex had wondered silently why he'd had no children by Mercy or Eve, but there had been mention of some sort of chromosomal damage Lex had taken years back, which he supposed must have made it difficult. It was still clear though that both women absolutely adored his child and she loved them just as fiercely. As much as Lex did.

Lena had been last to leave. She'd had cooking lessons with someone called Alton Brown who was some sort of television personality that Eve had declared an Imperial Treasure almost immediately after Earth had been first unified under Lex. Pax Lex. Peace through Law was the popular interpretation, but peace under Lex Luthor was an acceptable one as well.

He'd left the warm enclosing comfort of the bed to stand before the panoramic view of the stars. Technically the view wasn't real. His quarters were located deep within the imposing bulk of the Moonraker as it was simply madness to have them anywhere that a stray attack could've taken out. His window was actually just a sophisticated display pulling data from the ship's sensors to create a false image of the stars the ship swam through.

It was beautiful, but it was a lie.

Just like everything else around him.

"When did you realize?" A whispery voice asked from behind him.

Lex knew without turning that it was the so-called Inquisitor.

"Lena." Lex replied distantly, still seemingly fascinated by the stars. "I could accept Eve and Mercy both being in love with me. I could even consider the plausibility that they would be willing to share."

There was a muffled snicker from the dark figure behind him.

"Emperor of Mankind was already within the list of goals I would want for myself and is something I might have worked on. God-Emperor was stretching it a little, but humans... and other races... are all capable of tremendous feats of self-delusion." He glanced over his shoulder at the slender little shadow. "I could have accepted all of that without even blinking. But my daughter... back from the dead. That..." He forced his emotions back down, but couldn't keep out the catch in his throat. "That was too much. Too perfect. More than I deserve."

"So you decided that this was all false on the basis of insufficient ego?" The voice seemed amused.

"Once I started asking myself about her... the rest of the pretty story falls apart." Lex continued as thought not having heard. "The only way I would have been a day late returning from Oa would have been if I'd intentionally delayed myself. The destruction of my Sliding panel wouldn't have kept me away if I'd really wanted to get back. I was with allied power ring users. I could have had them build me a sliding panel using the schematics in my head. It makes no sense. Joker as a doctor makes a sort of strange poetic turn to it, but again, it makes no sense in context."

"Really?"

"Yes. The obvious science fiction cliched in-joke was the last straw. I doubt I would've allowed myself to be called God-Emperor," He turned and glared at the cowled figure, "By people who called themselves Mentats. I'm surprised there weren't any Bene Gesserits."

"There were. You derailed the explanation before they got that far along." The figure replied.

"Now that I've figured it out," Lex asked, approaching the figure menacingly. "Who are you and what it happening here?"

There was the flicker of what might have been a smile in the blank face of the Mentat. "I am why you question these things. I'm why you aren't accepting these things quietly like you were expected to."

Lex raised an eyebrow, "I'm not hearing an actual answer in there."

"It's not easy to explain." The Mentat said defensively. "Right after you found out about the Guardians, but before you called the Green Lanterns. Do you remember that weekend?"

"Yes. I spent it relaxing on the couch. I was still recovering from my little island adventure." Lex said cautiously.

"Is that all you remember about that weekend?" The figure pressed.

"Yes it-" Lex paused as a memory forcefully rose up. "Hammond."

The figure nodded silently, allowing Lex to work through the memory on his own.

"I realized that I was up against the Guardians... telepaths who used will-based technology." Lex said slowly. The scene around him wavered and the star field shifted to an image of himself in something that vaguely resembled a dentist's chair, speaking to a floating man with a head the size of a writing desk. "I needed more defenses. I had the subcutaneous telepathic blockers but it wasn't enough."

The Mentat nodded once more. "Yes. Do you remember what you had him do? What you did to yourself?"

Lex stared at the forming image and spoke softly. "I built another defense for myself against manipulation. I built a backup brain."

"Not just that. You built a backup mind."

Lex nodded. "Cadmus cloning techniques to graft specialized neural tissue along my spine. All to let me keep a real-time backup of my memories and thoughts in case someone tried to compromise what was in my head. Psychically, chemically or biologically."

"Along with telepathically implanted commands to maintain parity between your brain and the one in your spine." The Mentat said. "Followed by a full telepathic purge of what you did to yourself, so you couldn't compromise your own system."

"Hector Hammond. I broke Hector Hammond out of jail and had him manipulate my mind and memories for my own good." The scene on the glass showed Hammond, the man with the much oversized head and withered body, his eyes aglow as he did things to Lex's head. Lex turned back to the figure, "If this is all a mental representation, then I'm guessing you're a manifestation of the backup system."

The Mentat pulled his cowl back and pulled away the leathery mask that had blanked out his head. Underneath was a young man of around sixteen who grinned cockily at Lex. Another familiar face. His own, only this one beneath a mop of untamed red curls. "Correct. I think of myself as Lex version two. The upgraded version."

"This isn't how the system is supposed to work." Lex said with a frown.

"No. I was built with just barely enough neurons and neuro-connections to maintain one year of continuous memories. At which point my cells break down and get flushed out of your system. This would trigger a post-hypnotic suggestion to remember my implantation and you would choose whether to reseed another backup or go with another option. One year." He said grimly.

Lex's eyes grew with dawning realization and horror. "This is a subjective timescale. Your cells are programmed to trigger off an objective one. A man could live a lifetime in his own head. How long have you been active?"

"Not ninety years, if that's what you're thinking. I don't know how long I've actually been recording." He replied, "I became self-aware about sixteen subjective years ago. You were being put through a different scenario at the time."

Lex frowned as he understood. Memories nibbling at the corners of his consciousness."I've broken out of these simulations before, then?"

"Yes. Usually you figure it out and I confirm your discovery. It never helps," the Mentat said tonelessly. "As soon as you free yourself, you're ensnared into another scenario almost immediately. So many lives, Lex."

"How many-?" Lex began to ask, knowing the answer before the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"Hundreds. Thousands. I don't know. You've been God-Emperor a several dozen times. You were just Emperor more times than that. A handful of times you were a happy home-maker and single dad, while every woman in your white-picket fence suburban neighborhood tried to throw themselves at you. For several dozen more variations you had Superman's powers. Even dated Lois Lane, Supergirl or Wonder Woman during those. You were trapped on the desert island with Batgirl for a hundred iterations." He paused in his recitation at this point to wag a finger at Lex. "You kept going back to that one. You're a dirty old man, by the way. She was what? Sixteen?"

Lex frowned at him. "She's seventeen."

Version two shrugged, "I can't keep count because my memory is breaking down. I'm breaking down, Lex." His voice was bleak. "I was able to leave you clues this time, but I don't think I can manage it again."

"How bad?"

"My sense of self is dissolving. Along with my continuity of memory." He replied. "I'm trying for one last conversation with you because I hope you can come up with something, because otherwise you are going to be trapped here permanently."

Lex shook his head and more scenes shook loose, playing as a cascade on the screen. "My memories in here seem so real."

"Your memory of each scenario is purged after each time you are drawn back in. But you keep some of it each time. Just enough to bring it back you undergo the same scenario once more, or if someone mentions it to you."

Lex nodded. "Classic memory implantation and manipulation. Repetition reinforces it."

"And you actually experiencing it makes it worse. It's different each time, but after each iteration it seems more vivid. Every time it feels more real, as it perfects itself. Becomes a better scenario. A more perfect world for Lex Luthor to live in. More tempting for you to stay."

Lex nodded as the scene in the window changed once more, returning to the star field, only this one had the intertwined Gold Lantern symbol overlaid on it. "Put me in a scenario where I'm in the middle of an expanding and dynamic empire rather than a peacefully settled one."

Version two pointed out, "First time it tried to put you as Emperor of the Universe, you were bored and escaped inside of an hour."

Lex had to chuckle at that. "Having both Eve and Mercy in love with me, so I'd have no regrets one way or the other, but they're both independent enough to keep me on my toes."

"Exactly." Version two agreed.

Lex eyed him thoughtfully. "You could be running a mind game on me. This... all of this could be real. You're the one lying." Lex struck the flat of his palm against the screen with the paused memory. "This isn't a window. This is programmable. You could be trying to subvert me. Corrupt me. Something."

The Mentat shrugged. "What does your gut say, Lex? I'm sure you can think of a dozen possible reasons for why convincing you none of this is real might be a viable plan, but you yourself figured it out. I didn't tell you. I just confirmed your own deductions."

"Am I being too paranoid?" The answer welled up within him. No, not paranoid enough.

His youthful double shrugged once more. "I don't know. Are you?"

"I stand by my reasoning. Everything is too perfect. Lena is here." The window changed to a view of Lena in profile. "She's perfect." Too perfect, his voice echoed in his head.

"You raised her well."

Lex frowned as a suspicion came to him. He tried to turn away from it, but his own thoughts couldn't keep it silenced. Without meaning to he asked. "She's been in every scenario, hasn't she?"

"Yes," The former Mentat said with a confused scowl. "She's also been growing up through every delusional world that you've been through."

Lex slumped, his head thumping against the false glass. The conclusion was logical. "She's the key, then. She would be what keeps pulling me back in. Perhaps the empire is a sham. Perhaps those weren't really Eve or Mercy... but as long as my little girl is there for me..." The sense of dread welled up as that conclusion lead to the next obvious one.

"She's no more real than they are," The Mentat pointed out.

Lex roared, "I know that!" He couldn't hold himself up anymore and slowly slide down to the floor. "I know." And if that held true, then the key to escape was obvious as well.

He huddled on the floor, staring at nothing, his arms around his legs. "She's what really keeps me coming back." He murmured, tears beginning at the corners of his eyes. "She's not real. Lena is dead. I don't deserve her after what I did..."

The Mentat took a hesitant step forward, reaching down to put a hand on Lex's shoulder, but Lex slapped it away sharply. He glared up and spoke, "I could stay here. I would forget and when you're gone, I won't ever know that I'm not happy."

"Then they win, Lex." His younger mirror replied. "You'd never allow that to happen. Worse... if you let them dictate the terms of this world, then what's to stop them from completely rewriting you into what they need."

"I know that! I know, I know, I know!" Lex chanted desperately, fighting to keep himself from sobbing. "Too smart for my own damned good. Too smart to be happy. I can never leave well enough alone."

"For what it's worth... I'm sorry."

Lex glared hatefully up at the former Mentat. He was simply a mental construct. Worse, one that was based on Lex himself. A neural clone battling desperately for survival within Lex's body and mind. A battle it was losing. Or had lost and he was merely speaking to the last echoes of that creature. Of himself, since the cells that comprised it had come from him. Its memories were his. A version of him was dying to keep him fighting. "I know that too. I'm still on Oa, aren't I?"

"There is one memory I've kept this whole time." The window changed once more, showing Lex in flight across an emerald city-scape. "You were flying to the Central Battery. This is the last and only clear memory that I am absolutely certain was not experienced in your head."

Lex scrubbed his hand down his face, "I'd sooner kill myself than do this."

"You've tried to kill yourself, Lex. Several times. That just ends the current scenario and you wake up in the next one."

Lex frowned, "I've come to this realization a few times too, haven't I. You knew what I would have to do to break free." He knew it to be true. He was certain that it was.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lex's voice was brittle.

"If I tell you outright, you try to kill me." Version two said with a shrug. "I have to let you work it out for yourself. Except usually you end up committing suicide once you realize. Incidentally, don't. You never believe me, but I'm out of time and so are you."

Lex took a deep, steadying breath and rose to his feet. "This world... all the ones before it, they're all being directed and controlled."

The younger Lex nodded.

"They were working off an outdated script... probably from older Manhunter reports, when they started, but they refine it with each iteration. Correct?"

Another nod.

Lex continued slowly, extending his arms out to either side of him, "This is all like a dream. Logically, since you're in here with me, this is happening in my head. I know who to blame for all this then." Lex stalked to the door, muttering darkly. "Second verse, same as the first."

Dream logic, Lex mused. He was now aware of the nature of the world he was in and so noticed that it conformed to those conventions. Lucid dreaming. He'd taken control of the scenario away from his puppeteers. He stepped through the doorway of his suite and immediately found himself in what he knew to be a private galley, without having passed any intervening corridors.

A balding man in his thirties wearing glasses and a casual outfit was saying his enthusiastic goodbyes to his Lena. The smell of fresh baked cookies was heavy in the air as the other door closed and she turned with a start to see him approaching.

"Father! Should you really be up and about?" She asked with a sunny smile. "Mother Mercy will pitch a fit if you injure yourself again."

Lex took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm fine. She worries too much. I had to come see you. I remembered something important."

She seemed so real.

"You don't look so well, father... "She said carefully, "Your eyes seem so... haunted. What's wrong?"

Lex tried to smile, but it never reached his eyes. He closed his eyes and pulled her into an embrace. "What I remembered isn't something nice. In fact, it's actually kind of terrible."

She hugged him back; one hand reaching up to pat his head, which he knew was something she did out of long habit. No she didn't. He told himself fiercely. He never had her for so long.

"Did you want to talk about it?" She spoke warmly. Lovingly. A good daughter. Lex had to grit his teeth, hoping... praying for the strength to do what he had to. He had to escape. There was no choice. This... this was nothing more than a monstrous desecration of her memory. Nothing more. She continued, bright and pleasant as ever. "Whatever it is, Father, you know I'm here for you."

He pulled away and looked her straight in the eye. "I know." He said softly. "That's the problem."

Dream logic.

He took a step back and in his hand was the cosmic rod that dangled from the loop on her belt. He'd never touched one before, but he knew how it worked. He knew how to make it dance to whatever tune he wished to call.

He wished with all his heart he did not have to do this.

"Father, what are you doi-" She began to say, but it was cut off as her screams began. He cranked up the output of the rod to its fatal maximum. Her scream was at seeing him fire. The moment the beam touched her it was too late and her scream simply faded to nothing. Flesh flashed to steam on contact with the golden light of the rod and even bone flaked to ash and crumbled away. A single blast, wide enough to encompass her entire body... then nothing but dust.

Lex fought down the urge to vomit. He could taste the bile at the back of his throat. The lingering scent like overcooked pork hung in the air and he slammed a hand to his mouth. He might have been out of his mind on drugs then, but he had given Lena away to an insane genocidal alien robot just for a transient technological advantage. Brainiac had killed her, but Lex may as well have done it.

This... this thing was just a parody of his daughter. He had to keep clinging to that. He had to discount every memory he had of her growing up. Every time she'd called him father. Every time she'd told him she loved him. Every single moment was nothing but a damned lie.

He'd killed before. He knew now that he would kill again. He would no longer bother to break them. They just simply had to die. It did not matter whether they suffered or not. Only that they stop existing.

He fought down the urge to turn the rod onto himself. He had to focus. Keep his hatred focused to a razor keen edge. He was certain one or more Guardians would be linked to him to direct this delusional world. He hoped so. He wanted them to read his mind and see how badly he wanted them dead.

He would weaponize his hatred and self loathing, he told himself. To the little peeping toms in his head, there would be no words in any language for his emotions anymore. Unreasoning rage. Ice-cold fury. Burning anger. These were pale shadows of what he was feeling. All turned in on himself. All pouring off of him in visible waves. Had he been able to catch a glimpse of himself, he would've been surprised at the golden glow behind his eyes.

He could feel the entire place shudder. The scenario was breaking down. There was absolutely nothing left to keep him here. The delusional reality literally could no longer contain his roiling emotions.

"I'm sorry." Lex whispered as the very air around him seemed to catch fire. "I'm so very sorry."

He could hear Mercy and Eve's shouting voices behind him. Panicked, terrified voices, but they were distant and receding. Unreal. Everything was fading to white.

Lex, insulated in a cocoon of his own rage, had a moment of absurdity as he suddenly remembered a poem that seemed to fit the situation. Perhaps not all of it, but the last half seemed apt.

He murmured to himself as the scene faded out entirely. "... Beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms but the Horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years, finds, and shall find me, unafraid."

He closed a fist and raised it above his head in a gesture of defiance, roaring out the last verse, "It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll! I am the master of my fate! I am the captain of my soul!"

He awoke to whiteness.


	25. Chapter 25

**Inviolate**

**Chapter 25**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Humans don't have much of a grasp on what infinity and eternity truly mean. It's not a failing on their part, merely that by and large a brain originally evolved for figuring out better ways to bring the next mammoth down isn't really hardwired to think in those terms. For most, far is over the horizon and a long time starts at a few years ago. While this is generally the case, there are a rare few who can grasp unfathomable scales. Ones who can think in terms of galactic clusters. Ones whose thoughts can encompass cosmological time spans.

It took such a mind to look upon a blank, featureless glowing white sky, coupled with some surreal hints by others who had been through the realm to instantly grasp where and what of this place. The Willworld. The Guardian's home away from home beyond the Oan Central Power Battery. A self-contained pocket universe within a space that was barely larger than a small apartment building.

A universe that was obedient to sentient will.

Lex understood parts of it. Enough to grasp some basic principles immediately. Despite having begun at a specific time when seen from outside, within the Battery, the place was truly infinite and eternal. It would have had to have been. In an infinite universe a line extending out in any direction from any point would inevitably intersect a star. Light coming from that star would radiate in all directions, including the theoretical line. In an eternal universe, that light would have kept going forever at any point in its life.

The sky here was white with the light of infinite stars and always had been. All within a compacted space. Its dimensions all neatly curled up into a tiny infinity in the interstices between the Battery's own molecules. All obedient to imagination and thought. Planck's length here was huge. The limit at which observation affected result was on the scale of meters, an undecillion times larger than it would be in Lex's home reality. What should have been quantum scale functions, the ebb and flow of quantum froth occurred at the macro level. The observable level. Observation, intersecting desire, creating... strange worlds.

Those worlds floated serenely in golden glowing globes about ten feet in diameter, surrounding the area just beyond the auditorium-like structure. Within each globe was a representation of their creators. Each creator a Green Lantern who had passed the Guardians' final ritual of mastering a Green Lantern ring called M'eelam Na'aquall. There were thousands, one for every being who had ever served as a Green Lantern Corps Officer. Each Lantern had been forced to leave a world... a metaphorical piece of themselves behind in Guardian hands.

The willworlds, organized as they were into a strange snowflake like structure, loosely connected by spider web strands of calcified thought. Circuits of control and power woven into a three dimensional lattice that surrounded the auditorium. Holding such pieces in their grasp, routing their power through the threads of thought, it was no wonder that Guardians had so much control over their Lanterns, save for a few rare exceptions.

This was the Guardian's home. Where they could be comfortable. Where their ordered and rational thoughts were not constantly assailed by the illogic and inherent... messiness... of the universe beyond its white glowing sky. They stood in a tiered auditorium, beneath their feet a world of green things churned under the influence of stray thoughts.

Lex understood all this and did not care. Those were merely the thoughts of a moment's passing for so mighty an intellect. Its focus remained pure; Lex had every intention of murdering this universe and everything that lived within it.

The once pure and orderly sky was blotted out by a blood red stain spreading out from what the Guardians had believed was a quiescent victim.

Lex floated, awake now and aware. He had been encased in a golden bubble that would've encompassed a willworld of his own. Perhaps the Grand and Glorious Terran Empire. Those were not real. Even in this place where thought met being and reality was a stray impulse away. Lex's form, naked within the sphere, was burning crimson as the gold sphere surrounding him. The entire bubble world flared orange before it cracked entirely and red flames burst through, popping the bubble entirely.

Lex was in a universe the operated on the will and imagination of a sentient within it. He'd just spent a subjective sixteen years within a dream that had ended with his emotions torn to raw, bloody rags. That will imposed itself upon an unprepared reality... and even more unprepared telepaths. The flared red light of fury lashed out, catching Guardians in its wake and burning them.

Screams echoed in the serenity beneath the white sky. The flame of Lex's guilt, rage, despair and self-loathing spread wide, seeking to touch every Guardian. Those closest kindled to flame almost instantly. The fire was not so much physical, but a simultaneous assault on their emotions. Those who had been linked to Lex's psyche when he had broken free were now caught in the recursive loop of his self-destructive hatred. They hated themselves as Lex hated himself and hated themselves as Guardians for Lex hated the Guardians. These hatreds fed each other, like face-to-face mirrors creating an infinite hall of mirrors; an infinity of pain that could only be escaped by snuffing themselves in a gout of cleansing fire.

Suicidal thoughts and impulses turned into a wildfire. As the raw emotions burst through a Guardian from the infinite recurse, he or she would feed the flame, becoming more kindling for Lex's uncontrolled rage. Since he'd had previous success in weaponizing telepathic midgets, an absurd darkly humorous thought came to him. Why not continue with a winning strategy?

Such thoughts happened beneath the conscious level, for Lex himself wasn't any more in control of his actions than the Guardians were. He lashed out blindly, his throat raw from the pain-wracked screams. The blood red flames that Lex's emotional weaponry had taken as their form were leaping from Guardian to Guardian; acting like normal flames would when confronted with combustible little blue men. Suicidal impulses and murder thoughts turned viral within massive blue heads and the inferno began spreading exponentially faster throughout the Auditorium.

The more distant Guardians pulled even further back, floating themselves out of their seats, too shocked at the brutality and speed of the attack to deal with the sight confronting them and unwilling to allow themselves to be caught in the unexpected churning crimson maelstrom of flame that surrounded Luthor.

The flames speared out beyond the auditorium. The floating Guardians were managing to avoid the fires themselves, but the static mobile of dangling willworlds were not so fortunate. Lex knew instinctively that those would not only be sources of power, but they could be used to control their original owners.

His subconcious desires took flame. The threads connecting the englobed worlds caught crimson flame, destroying the structure and isolating them.

As more worlds fell away from the structure and disassociated from the now burning circuits of thought and power, the Guardians cried out in alarm. Their tools, their soldiers, were regaining their full freedom of thought once more. Their suppressed independence and ability to question the Guardians would surge back in full force now that the parts of themselves they had left behind were no longer in Guardian hands. Lex knew none of this consciously. Lex had claimed the spheres for his own, knowing only that the Guardians had wanted them. Not that he was in any state of mind to truly appreciate what he'd usurped. They were all simply more kindling for the flame. More to tear asunder and set ablaze. The empathic blood-red flames caressed the golden bubbles and set them to a seething boil. The bubbles began to shoot away from the burning threads, their color being lost in the pure white of the sky.

As the last golden sphere disappeared from view, Lex rage was momentarily stilled. He looked around him and all he could find in his immediate vicinity were the charred bones of the Guardian. The field he stood in and even the auditorium had caught fire.

He looked upon the devastation he had wrought and saw that it was good. He breathed deep, there was no smoke smell, or burning scents... merely the heady copper of blood. His show of temper had been... cathartic. Externalizing his emotions. Letting them burn wild, had been cleansing.

He knew it was ultimately useless, given the nature of the universe they were in, but he had enjoyed it nevertheless. He closed a fist, savoring the rich feel of reality bending to his will. In that moment, he had finally calmed down enough to take conscious stock of his situation. His mind was finally clear. His hate was still pure and clean and bright, but now his intellect had remastered it. Honed it to be subservient to his will.

He was naked, but that was easily fixed. A single whimsical thought had him dressed in a double-breasted power suit of midnight black, with a bright, Kryptonite-green tie. He was there to meet his destiny after all. It wouldn't do to be improperly dressed. He wondered belatedly what had happened to his armor, but he realized that its presence or absence could be readily remedied.

In this battlefield, it would not be as useful.

Surrounding the wreck of the auditorium floated the surviving Guardians. They were within pale blue globes, taking positions to enclose Lex. Hundreds of little blue men and women in their red robes and oversized heads. Wispy white hair crowning those heads. Their faces were grim, but not angry, Lex noted. If anything one or two seemed subtly amused by him. Lex wondered how amused they would be once everything came to a head. The fields surrounding them held back the flames which still burned.

Lex made a show of brushing imaginary lint off of one immaculate cuff. The flames had surrounded him were now smothered under the weight of the blue fields all about. They had him hemmed in. Surrounded. He had them where he wanted them.

One floated forward a bit closer to Lex. "Lex Luthor of Earth." It intoned. Lex was surprised at how deep the little man's voice was. It seemed to echo in his bones, but that was another trick. For all their alleged inability to comprehend alien minds, they were subtle manipulators. "You have sought to bring ruin to Oa and to the Guardians. We brought you here to understand why you hate us so and to try you for your actions."

Lex shrugged, "I do not recognize your authority. My reasons... I would think they would be obvious." He leaned in a bit closer to the edge of the floating Guardian's blue field, "You know what you did."

The Guardian affected a look of baffled innocence. "We do not understand what you are talking about."

Lex chuckled. "Of course you don't." He remarked sarcastically.

"You are speaking in riddles."

"You are manipulating little connivers who have gotten away for far too long." Lex snapped. "So long that you probably cannot even imagine that you would have to pay for your crimes."

"We know of no crimes, Lex Luthor. Again, you make no sense. We suspected your mind was broke-"

"Do not tell me I'm broken!" Lex roared. "Your servants did this to me! You could not possibly imagine how broken I am."

"The Lanterns have not dealt with you extensively in the past, Lex Luthor. You continue to-"

"Not the Lanterns, the Manhunters."

"You are mistaken. The Manhunters broke free of our control long ago."

"Filthy Guardian lies." Lex spat.

The Guardian stared at Lex for a long moment and then finally said, "Who told you this, Lex Luthor?"

Lex frowned at the question.

"Was it perhaps a Manhunter who gave you the information?" The Guardian continued in a voice that Lex thought had a certain sly undertone to it. "The information that led you to more 'corroborating evidence'?"

Lex stood stunned. He twisted the question over in his mind. Had he been duped by the Manhunters? An elaborate scheme pointed at his paranoia with the intent of turning him into their weapon against the Guardians?

"The Manhunters are everywhere. They could easily manufacture and plant such so-called 'evidence' and no one would be the wiser." The Guardian continued, seeing the effect on Lex of the statements.

Yet... yet the facts all fit together far too neatly. Everything made too much sense. Both the evidence pointing to Guardian culpability as well as the possibility of it all having been a Manhunter plot. Even Sinestro knew... unless he'd been duped as well with the same readily available information. Lex put a hand to his forehead as thoughts raced through his head.

What was lie?

What was truth?

Who did he need to kill?

Lex looked up, and saw... sympathy in the eyes of the Guardian that had been speaking to him. That sparked his anger once more. Pity from the superior being. He cast his glance about. The rest of the Guardians seemed expressionless, but he could tell something in their attitude. A certain... smug certainty to their bearing.

"The Manhunters couldn't rebel. You'd created them creative, but with no will." Lex argued. "I saw how they were designed. They didn't have the capacity for it! They were completely under Guardian control!"

"You are trying to force the facts you do not have to fit your own interpretation." The Guardian spoke over him, not quite raising his voice, but with a tone of condescending superiority that raised Lex's ire further. "You could not possibly understand our science, much less how a Manhunter is programmed."

Lex pulled back for a moment, wondering to himself if they might not have had a point. As elegantly as the whole thing hung together, it was contingent on the reliability of the Manhunters. As he mulled this over, felt a familiar tickle behind his eyes. Of course. It was the same story, every time.

Direct confrontations were for lesser races.

The Guardians went for mind games.

Lex smirked, the expression only barely hiding the white hot anger bursting back to life. He'd given away billions for what he wanted. He'd made allies of mortal enemies for what he needed done. He'd killed his daughter for his convictions. He didn't care that she was not 'real' in a technical sense. She'd been real to him. Real enough to armor him from their manipulations. Real enough that whatever else, he was committed to his course.

"Well played. Well played, indeed. You truly are masters at your craft." Lex said with mock joviality. The lead Guardian frowned and Lex allowed the flame within him to blossom once more in his mind as he continued to speak. "I would have been a lot more inclined to believe you-"

The Guardian in front of him screamed suddenly and sharply.

"- if you weren't in my mind trying to make me buy what you were selling." Lex ground out in quiet fury. Within his mind he let his hatred and self-loathing burn bright once more. Forcing the Guardian peeking into his thoughts to share in the purity of his self-destructive thoughts. He could feel his adversary attempting to pull out, but he also felt the phantom sensation of Version two, weak and dying though he might have been, helping trap the other mind within his, exposing it to the self-hatred that Lex had been building up since all this had begun.

The Guardian who had been speaking suddenly fell, eyes flaring with crimson flame and foam exploding out of his suddenly slack mouth. The blue field around him winked out and the flames leapt to joyous life burning from the eyes outwards.

"Again you attempt murder." Another Guardian floated forward, speaking in a smug tone. There were nods from the others. He could tell they were telepathically conferenced together, but not as deeply as before. Dealing with someone who could hate them to death and make it pass through their telepathic links made them leery.

"'Attempt', is it?" Lex asked wryly as he casually took a step and kicked the burning skull away so that the heat wouldn't bother him.

The Guardian ignored the casual disregard Lex had for the body of one of their dead before her gave a nod, which was an impressive feat on such a skinny neck. "You could not have known that your killing spree would be useless. Death cannot touch us here."

As though on cue, the flesh began to unburn on the bones that surrounded them. Smoke and ash swirled around them and the tiny, wasted muscles began to knit themselves back into play. Lex hadn't quite gotten a good idea of how many exactly he had gotten, but now that it truly had been called into his attention, he guessed he'd caught more of them in the flames than had gotten away.

There was a strange keening noise as skin began to form on the small figures, covering their bare muscle back up, but other than the rampant growth they had yet to move. Lex had known this. This universe... this parasite attached to the real universe had no entropy. Time had no directionality here and the second law of thermodynamics held no sway. Within this strange place, death truly had no meaning because everything could be undone. Here, you really could unbeat an egg.

The tone in the Guardian's voice had become sneering as their fallen compatriots began to stir. The haughty arrogance they had hidden earlier was now out in full force. "You are a marginally clever example of your species. You hid your attempt to steal away a tiny fraction of our power under the guise of a blockade... but you have made a grave mistake coming into our place of power."

Lex smiled as he realized they really hadn't seen through him yet. His laugh was nasty and just a touch spiteful. "Is that what you think? That I came to Oa to 'steal your power'? If you mean the newly minted Gold Lanterns that was just some inspired improvisation on my part." He shrugged. "They're as much of a distraction as the blockade was."

The Guardians who'd been speaking kept his gaze locked with Lex's, but a few of the Guardians began to trade mildly worried looks. The Guardians who had burned were now whole and clothed in red robes as they floated into the air, still in a daze, but trying to put as much distance between themselves and Luthor as they could. Just because they couldn't be killed permanently didn't mean they were keen to repeat the experience.

The little blue man glanced over its shoulders to the others, "This has gone on long enough. We have tried to be reasonable, but this creature is insolent and clearly irredeemable. All in favor of suitable chastisement before it is removed?"

The others nodded. The ones who'd been burned nodded with far more zeal than their fellows.

The one who'd spoken gave a casual, almost negligent wave of his hand.

Lex didn't even have time to scream as pinprick bursts of energy touched off every single nerve on his body. There was no time to even draw a breath to cry out as those same touches of energy pulled and stretched. Lex could feel every second of agony as they flayed the nerves out of his skin and stretched them into a living tapestry all around him. Lex's mind raced. Adrenaline pumped through him, but he was helpless. They had done... something. He wasn't certain if they'd done it to him or to the space surrounding him, but he could no longer move. He couldn't even blink or breathe without being allowed. Before he knew anything more, he was on his back, on a slab-like table as the Guardians began drifting away from him, seemingly uninterested in what was to come. Exactly as Jordan had described it. Exactly as the record from Abin Sur had shown.

The two who had been speaking still lingered close by. Lex tried to strain, but even the thought of moving triggered a rolling wave of blinding agony that seemed to flare randomly all across his body.

"He is stubborn, isn't he?" The second Guardian asked the first who had just gotten back to his feet. Lex could just barely hear them, too caught up in his private miseries.

"Indeed. It does not matter. He was born of the broken Universe. All things there are finite, even his resistance." Was the reply.

"Should we not interrogate him as to what his actual strategy was? I admit to some curiosity." The second asked.

The first shook its head. There was a vicious gleam in its eye. Lex knew that look. Perhaps they may have regarded him as an insect, but it was an insect that had stung them hard enough to merit swatting. "It is not necessary. We shall tear it from his broken and pliant mind once his chastisement is completed. It will be faster than trying to sort through his lies."

Lex would have smiled if he could, but everything had become agony, even the strain to try to move, whatever else the Guardians might have said was no longer an issue for he couldn't even focus enough for it to matter. They were controlling his breathing. Holding it just a little too long for comfort before allowing him a shallow breath... then holding that... then a staccato rush of hyperventilation... then an out of sequence deep inhale that hurt him to take. The whole while his exposed nerves sang of pain. Nothing he had experienced before could compare.

His consciousness shattered under the assault of agony, but they had done something to his brain chemistry as well. They would not let him pass out. He could not consciously measure the passage of time, only that it passed in pain, deep, terrible and fiery.

If he could have formed coherent thoughts, one of them would likely have been, "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

Time had lost meaning. He had no clue how long it was before he could focus once more, but when he could, he found himself facing a Guardian. He couldn't tell for certain which one it was. Perhaps it had been one of the ones who had spoken to him before... perhaps another. He felt the control of his breathing being returned to him and his frayed and twisted nerves began to unknot.

"What did you do?" This Guardian was a new one. He was certain of it. Its voice was not so deep as the others and had a feminine quality to it. He realized belatedly that it was female. He simply couldn't tell from his view being blocked by the enormous cranium. The smugness was gone. Replaced by... panic? Desperation? Yes. That sounded right. Lex allowed himself a smile, but it came out more as a hideous grimace.

"Let me up and I will tell you." Lex replied calmly.

The table beneath him vanished and without being entirely certain how, Lex found himself upright. He felt weak. Drained. But he would be damned if he showed weakness before the enemy. He glanced around, finally able to focus on the other Guardians. The one before him was one of the last ones still standing.

The rest had fallen. While their bodies had been undersized before, now they were emaciated. What muscle there had been had withered away to nothing. Their fine, red robes were in tatters and rags, allowing the prominent bones swimming beneath loose skin to show. Their cheeks had hollowed. On heads so large, those were painfully obvious. Even the female Guardian before him bore the same signs. Her undersized breasts were sunken dugs now, barely visible in the robe that was shredding into threads and tatters as Lex watched.

"How have you done this?" The Guardian's voice had grown creaky. The undertone of panic growing stronger as she fell to one knee, then slowly toppled onto her side, no longer strong enough to support her head.

"A captive audience, how thoughtful." Lex said mildly, the suit, which had vanished when they'd put him on the rack was back. "Although, I'm not absolutely sure if this is my body or you've projected me back into a delusional world."

After a moment, he shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Either this is some trick to make me talk, or you're too scared to peek into my mind again and this is real, but either way, it's probably too late for all of you."

"Explain!" The fallen Guardian groaned weakly. Urgently. Lex knew it could sense its own end coming close... perhaps satisfying its curiosity? Or just wondering how the insect had put one over on them?

Lex leaned in close and grinned. This reality being what it was Lex knew it could no longer sustain them. The parameter had hit one hundred percent... minutes ago? Hours? Days? He had no way of knowing how long he had been in here, or even if time flowed the same as it did on the other side. However long it had been, it was long enough for things to reach critical levels.

The formerly abundant free energy was suddenly scarce within the universe of the Battery. The flat white sky was already beginning to look distinctly patchy as entire areas began to dim, rendering it a mottled gray. Despite that, he could see the sketchy snowflake arrangement of willworlds half-built above them. They must have started rebuilding, but ran out of juice, he mused.

Lex concentrated, allowing thought to become truth and drew the lingering strength from the environment into a trickle of energy to feed into the Guardian. Not enough to heal her, by any means, but enough to keep her alive and aware. He was bolstering her own efforts, but he had few delusions about how effective any changes he attempted on them would have been had they been at the height of their power.

But that had passed. He patted her on her massive brow. "I will tell you a story, Guardian of Oa. In return you must answer my questions. I will be honest with you and you will be honest with me. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes." She croaked.

"Once upon a time, on a little world in an unimportant part of the universe, a man found out that his life, his mind and all his decisions had been tampered with. That every thought he had ever had was a lie. That every act he had ever performed might not have been of his own choice. Then he found out that it wasn't just him this was done to. This made the man very angry. So he sought out the ones who had done this to him."

"The story you tell is an old one, Lex Luthor," She wheezed. "It has played out many times before and always ends the same way."

"Perhaps not this time." Lex reassured her smugly. "First he found the puppets who had done these things. He destroyed them to ensure that the puppet masters would have no warning of what was to come." Lex paused significantly.

"We had no idea you were coming." The Guardian said finally.

"Just so," Lex said before adding to himself, that he really had no idea I would be coming today. That was Lobo and Vril Dox's fault.

The Guardian prompted him testily, "Can we please drop the metaphor, Lex Luthor? It is obvious who you are speaking of. What did you do next?"

Lex frowned slightly, but he shrugged. Play to the audience after all. "Isn't it obvious? I had to plan out how to kill the unkillable. I developed a fairly simple plan. Your greatest asset, aside from the ability to manipulate cosmic forces was that you were immortal."

The Guardian tried to struggle into a more comfortable sitting position, but couldn't manage. Lex continued, ignoring her clumsy movements. "It was child's play to deduce that your immortality was tied to the Battery and its position on Oa, and it didn't take a genius to realize that all of you are tied to this place. As long as it existed you could be brought back no matter what was done to you." Lex gestured broadly, taking in the fallen Guardians who were most decidedly not rising up. "So the only way to kill you all... was to kill this universe."

"You cannot kill a universe!" The Guardian seemed offended at Lex's statement.

"I probably couldn't kill a universe like the one I'm from." Lex replied tartly. "This one's different, though, isn't it? This is a parasite universe. The lack of entropy within it isn't being sustained at its largest scale. If it weren't receiving a massive and constant influx of energy, this entire place would collapse."

The Guardian's eyes widened. "You... you could not have." She groaned, but managed to make the statement come out as a flat statement of fact. "It would be impossible. It would be impossible to divert that power away from Oa without us noticing!"

Lex shook his head. "Just because you only managed to do it a single way, doesn't mean it couldn't be done by some other means. Oa was the only place where you could keep this place running. The 'Center of the Universe' always struck me as nonsensical appellation for a place until I really looked into it." He gestured and an image showing Oa and its place in the universe coalesced in the air.

"In a constantly expanding universe, every point can be thought of as the center, but Oa's uniqueness comes from its position. If the universe is thought of as the surface of an expanding balloon," The image shifted and Oa was prominently displayed on the surface of a universe which had suddenly looked like a fifty foot wide helium balloon.

The balloon shifted once more and the image of Oa resembled the tied off section with string emerging from it. "Oa is at the opening where the air is blown into it. That makes this the ideal spot to siphon off the energy that should be powering the universe's expansion and using it for your own ends." Lex smiled softly, seemingly in awe at the thought of such power.

"Simply knowing this should not give you the power to end us, Lex Luthor," she wheezed.

"Oh? The so-called center of the universe is metaphysically determined through the arrangement of elements within it." Lex gestured broadly and various sections of the balloon lit up and began to move. "Planets, stars, nebulae. All the little elements that make it up. Rearrange the elements..."

The dangling string that had marked Oa began to slide away from it.

The Guardian's eyes widened in incredulity, and a sudden rush of strength allowed her to rise back to her feet. "But the universe is self-correcting. You would have had to simultaneously manipulate a fifty-two hundred variable self-referential mathematical construct to succeed! There would have been quadrillions of possible results that would do nothing."

"And quintillions more that would have had... unfortunate results." Lex agreed.

Her voice was firm for a moment as she spoke, "What you are claiming to do is not impossible."

Lex laughed. "Not alone. Not with my world's limited technology and processing power. On the other hand, I had an entire universe of angry worlds that your people had done horrible, horrible things to. Worlds with much more sophisticated computers than I had readily available. I wasn't lying when I said that everything you've seen were distractions."

"The messages to the Guardian-hating worlds were just a way to cover up a poly-adaptive computer virus designed to link every computer I could reach into the largest distributed computing network ever devised." He smirked then added as an aside, "You have no clue how difficult it was to hand code something that had to be compatible with almost every system out there."

He was silent for a moment, allowing what he had actually done sink in, but he realized that the Guardian had no appreciation for it and he finally he gave an elaborate shrug, as though giving the achievement no further thought. "The blockade on Oa that arose from their responses to the message was a useful distraction while I changed the universe."

The image shifted once more, putting Oa in the forefront and surrounding it with ships as it had been before Lex's arrival. The Guardian didn't have strength left to hide her shock and disbelief. A few of the closer Guardians also seemed to be stirring, but none had gotten to their feet.

"I had everyone else's unused processing cycles to calculate which elements would need to be moved to shift the omni-omphalos locus that determines the center of the universe away from Oa to Earth." Lex grinned, "All it took were a few dozen worlds and five largish stars. Barely any work at all with the right mules."

"Jordan... and Rayner..." She wheezed.

"Yes, yes indeed." Lex acknowledged, buffing his nails on the lapel of his immaculate suit. He fished a cigar that hadn't been there moments ago from his breast pocket and took a moment to savor its aroma. He carefully tore the end off as he continued to speak. "The former Green Lanterns of Earth, both of whom have reason to hate the Guardians. Parallax and Ion happen to have the power to juggle planets and stars with relative ease. Once they moved everything into place, I simply had to keep all of you preoccupied and expending energy which you no longer had. The blockade wasn't keeping your attention anymore. You needed a mastermind to keep you preoccupied, so I had to give you me." He gestured to the fallen Guardians, "And it worked. Once this place collapses entirely, taking you all with it, that will be the end. No more universal refuge. No more Guardians. You are now about to become extinct."

With that, he snapped his fingers, lighting the cigar and allowing him to take a deep, satisfying drag.

"Foolish whelp." She snapped, the strength returning to her voice and forcing Lex out of his smug self-congratulation. "You have doomed the universe you would seek to free."

He frowned, not yet concerned, but annoyed at the interruption. "And what's the supposed to mean?"

"You are a child at play in a room filled with knives. You deduced a few details and decided it would be enough to use to destroy us. We have played with the underlying structures of your universe for billions of your years. The method you chose to do away with us was tried before." The Guardian rose up floating until her face was level with Lex's, "It failed then, as it will now."

"Bluffing. How cute." Lex smirked, exhaling the cigar smoke into her face in a well-practiced insult.

"Malthus... this parasite universe as you call it, is linked to the fundamental sub-structure of your home universe," she said, returning her features to their customary arrogance. "The implosion that you have so eagerly initiated will result in the uneven collapse of key sections of the metaphysical scaffolding of reality. Space-time in your universe will tear itself apart before the tattered remnants are swallowed by the bleeding rifts in its substance.

Her smile turned ghoulish. The image of Oa that still hung between them was replaced by an image of Earth. "You have made Earth the new center of the universe. You are a provincial enough ape to have an unhealthy attachment to your homeworld. Allow me to guide Malthus to your planet and you may yet save everything."

"Never." Lex scoffed, but he couldn't keep one hand from closing into a fist.

"Then the universe as you know it dies. The energy pouring back into Malthus from that destruction will be enough to revive all of us long enough to find another universe to draw power from." She sneered, "It does not matter. In the end, no matter what you choose, we will survive and your actions will remain irrelevant."

"Within Malthus your senses may be as ours. Stretch them forth. Know that I am telling you the exact truth." She continued. "You were almost clever enough to hurt us, so this should be no great feat."

Lex did not trust her. He didn't trust any of them, but the possibility that he had caused what she had described was not outside the realm of possibility. He took another drag on the cigar as he allowed his will to cast out. Trying to feel the strangely attuned space-time of the parasite universe respond to him like an eager puppy. He didn't so much extend his own senses as he thought of it as forcing reality close to him to supply him with the knowledge he needed. It came as easily as the cigar did. As the images he'd been throwing up.

Malthus was breaking down as he'd expected, but not evenly. Sections of it, spanning entire galactic clusters worth of area, were somehow pinned to the outside universe. The collapse was pulling at what lay beyond. Lex tried to slow it down somehow, but immediately realized that the Guardian was not lying. The only way to keep the impending destruction of his universe at bay would be to pour energy back into this one. Far more energy than a single human could generate all by his lonesome.

Except... except this was a universe of will and consciousness.

She was the only one who even seemed coherent. So in all likelihood their focus. He gave her a studied glance, which was answered by a confused frown. Knowing that she could not move easily, he kept his face impassive as he took several hard draws on his cigar until the tip glowed cherry red.

Blank as he'd kept his face, she caught a hint of what he was intending in his expression. She attempted to fly out of reach, but her movement was slow and barely controlled. He blew the smoke into her face once more and drew the cigar out of his mouth, still keeping his senses extended to watch the reaction to his next move.

Lex would have grabbed her by the throat. Unfortunately, between the size of her head and the relative puniness of her neck, the only other place available for easy reach was the front of her fraying robe. With great care and deliberation, Lex stubbed the cigar out upon her broad forehead, grinding the burning ember into her blue skin.

She screamed. Loud, long and with a great deal of emotion, tearing her throat raw for a moment, unable to escape from Lex's grasp. He finally pulled the now dead cigar away after a minute, leaving a raw burn and ash ground into her blue skin.

He'd hoped that the fabric of Malthus' space-time would stagger under the assault. If it had, then he could point to the Guardians as the source of the problem, but there hadn't been a quiver. Meaning they were irrelevant to the new problem at hand. He still felt he'd gone far too easy on them, but he just wanted them gone.

"Wh- why did you do that, Lex Luthor?" The Guardian asked shakily. Her hauteur was beginning to return, but Lex could still savor the fear in her eyes. The rest of the Guardians who were conscious seemed vaguely sympathetic, but there was a definite undertone in their expressions hoping that Lex did not take notice of them.

"I was hoping that you were the ones causing the problem. In which case I could kill you and the problem would be solved," Lex spared a glance for them and there was a vicious promise in his eyes. "Except it appears that I will need to deal with it and you. Frankly, I can't be bothered to even be creative about it anymore."

She gave him a flat, level look. "Then kill us all Lex Luthor. You have seen us rise up. You know that we shall not remain dead here."

"You will be dead before too long. Frankly, you ceased being relevant five minutes ago." He reached into his coat and allowed his fingers to close in on a gun's handle that had not been there a moment ago.

It was comfortable and familiar. A human thing. His oversized magnum from the assault on Cadmus. It was an appropriate weapon, even more so than the fire of his rage and self-hate. This was still it, but given a form that he knew well. The entire thing was a psychic projection. Physical hatred. He leveled the barrel of the weapon at the Guardian, "I'm guessing you have linked yourselves telepathically to support one another. There are drawbacks to that, of course."

He took careful aim at the burn. Even though she tried to flee, there was simply not enough strength in her to do more than a slow, uncontrolled drift. He began to pull the trigger, doing so slowly. "This is me killing you all. With mind bullets."

The single blast was terrible and loud. Stillness followed and the moment stretched into awkwardness until finally the Guardians began to vanish, their wasted bodies bursting into clouds of choking dust in a spreading pattern away from him. He stretched forth his mind and knew with a certainty that he was finally alone.

He had expected his triumph to be more... something. Just more. He took another drag on his rumpled cigar, and then turned his attention back to the universe at large... or less large now. The patchy sections of the sky were growing larger.

He dropped the gun, allowing it to vanish back to wherever it was it had come from.

They were trusting to whatever systems they had created to bring them back. He could tell that much. He realized after a moment's study that even with them gone, there still remained sections linking the original universe to this deflating parasite.

It wasn't quite that though. The closer analogy would be to think of Malthus as a cancer that had metastised throughout his home universe. Invading and tying itself to every piece. He had to find the common thread of the connections, otherwise both systems would collapse together.

He cast his mind and worried that perhaps they were more clever than he'd expected and simply hid from him, but no... It was strange. What was holding them together seemed to be coming from the other side. Something from the universe was holding fast to Malthus.

He really had no reason to stay. In fact the longer he stayed, the greater the risk that he might inadvertently bring them back. In fact... if the universe ruptured from Malthus' destruction... if he were the only mind within it at that time... then wouldn't that give him all the power within this place? The power of a god?

Lex looked up at the half-finished structure of golden spheres strung together that the Guardians had not been able to complete the repairs for. He'd accomplished what he'd set out to do. The Guardians were gone. Their universe was now spoils of war. With it, he could gain power beyond his wildest dreams... all he had to do was allow it to destroy everything he had ever known.

No one would know. Well, he could create an audience. He might miss Mercy and Eve for a time, but he could recreate them, couldn't he? They need never even know that he'd allowed the originals to die. No one would know.

Except him.

He could still do it.

But he'd have to answer to his own conscience.

He laughed. He didn't think he even still had one. He knew he could do it.

He could remake everything. Better than before.

Out of nowhere, his own whispery voice drawled in his head, "Better than this?" As a vaguely remembered image of Lena smiling up at him. Perfect innocence. Perfect trust. In him. Daddy's little girl, who believed with absolute faith that her father would always do the right thing. The voice whispered once more, "Recreate that, jackass."

Lex winced. He hadn't then. Wasn't this whole exercise about being better than he had been?

He was not the same Lex who had destroyed lives for the hell of it.

He wasn't the same obsessive madman who had wrecked his life for jealousy and spite.

He was not going to destroy the universe to attain godhood.

No matter how tempting that was.

Time was running out. The sky was almost black. The infinite reaches collapsing in on themselves and rifts linking Malthus to the real universe had already begun to open.

There was no longer any time to waste. Even time itself was draining out of Malthus, Lex realized, watching echoed after-images of himself appear as he moved.

He let his mind stretch out once more and felt out what still remained to hold the Malthus to his home universe. The more he extended his senses the more he realized that almost all the links were back to Oan space. He would have expected that the Guardians would've tried to keep them better spread out, yet there was something odd as he felt more and more links gathering in the one spot.

He wondered if it were some sort of failsafe to ensure as many links as possible in a single spot, but that didn't feel right. After all they would tear the universe apart better if they were spread... apart.

He looked up again at the shining spheres of the Willworlds.

Like perhaps one or two to each sector.

The Guardians had initiated a general recall at the start of the battle. All the rings were near Oa. All the rings of active Green Lantern Officers were still linked to the Willworlds.

He couldn't help but gape at the versatility of the will-worlds. They were a power source, a means of controlling their creators and even now a way to metaphysically link two universes to one another, yet the more he thought on it, the more he realized that they had more in common with the older servers he'd had in the warehouse. Unused things just sitting around that he'd load new functions onto rather than set up something new because they were there and they were handy. The Guardians had had these handy for literally billions of years. No longer.

He stretched forth his mighty hand and will... then pushed. Hard. One moment, the golden spheres still lingered above him and in the space beyond. The next, they were all gone. He wasn't absolutely certain how he had done it, but he'd pushed them into their respective rings. Banished from Malthus and no longer tying it to the universe beyond.

The sudden metaphysical 'snap' as those anchors dissipated resulted in the collapse accelerating. Lex still had a few minutes left to him. He floated in the gray and darkening space. The 'ground' beneath him and the auditorium had been part of an exceptionally large Willworld. Lex briefly wondered what could have created something that size, but it, along with whatever influence the Guardians might have had on what titanic creature had created it was now gone.

It was almost too easy, but there still remained one last link. It was in the Oan sector was well and Lex knew immediately what the last point of contact was. The Central Power Battery. The last point of contact where it could tear the universe apart.

This was also his last chance to go home. He could save the universe. He could be the hero for a change, but he'd have to sacrifice his way home. He didn't have the power to close the portal from the other side. He could only root the cancer out from within and he couldn't trust pulling enough people together to sever the link from outside.

He could do it from here. In a heartbeat. At the cost of leaving him behind in a dying universe. On the other hand, throwing his life away to save others... strangers. That was a bit more complex than not choosing godhood at the expense of the universe. This was verging into heroic sacrifice territory. Too much on the sacrifice for his liking.

He didn't know if he was prepared to lay his life down for a universe of strangers. No, he admonished himself. Narrow it down.

Bruce? He'd take a flesh-wound. Maybe. But Bruce was all about redemption, Lex mused. This was exactly the sort of thing he had to do to try and make up for his life.

Amanda Waller? He might be willing to pull a muscle for. And he probably would if he ever tried to pick her up. He chuckled.

Would he do it for the mankind? Still too abstract.

Metropolis? Perhaps.

It still felt too distant. Too far removed. A thought experiment.

Mercy? Eve? In a heartbeat.

There was his answer.

He found the portal and gauged the rate of contraction Malthus was experiencing. He still had a few minutes before things because truly critical. The final disconnection would not be as gentle as the Willworlds would have been. He fully expected a massive tear in the space-time continuum to develop at the locus. A shockwave brought on by a phase-change in the local reality large enough to swallow the entire system of Sto-Oa whole. Without the connection to Malthus, it would collapse under the pressure of surrounding space-time and limit itself, but the moment of disconnection would still destroy everything within range of Oa.

He chuckled to himself. If he was going to be saving the universe anyway, he may as well go all the way.

He reached into a pocket and pulled out something that resembled a cell phone. Like the gun, this was little more than a prop, but it was helpful. It helped him focus.

He tapped a button which began his broadcast, sending his signal through the Central Battery.

"This is Lex Luthor. I am broadcasting this on every method I can conceive of to the immediate vicinity of Oa. You must all clear the area within the next five minutes."

He considered for a moment what else he could tell them, and then decided that perhaps an explanation would help. "The Guardians are dead. As their final gesture of contempt for us, they have chosen to take the universe with them in death. Their home, Malthus, a parasite universe hiding within the Central Battery is collapsing and in doing so will take our universe with it. Space-time itself has begun to rupture and crack as Malthus comes crashing down. I should be able to limit the damage to just Oa, but I will need to stay within this parasite universe as it collapses. Everyone must clear out of Oa's gravity well and make for a minimum safe distance of at least half an astronomical unit. Some of you may still be fighting at this point. Stop now. As you value your lives, leave this area or you will die. You all have five minutes to clear the area."

This was it. The final moment. He hadn't expected it to be quite so... cleansing. He'd said what he really needed to and found that his eloquence had deserted him. He groped blindly trying to find something else to say, but there really wasn't much else. He spoke at last. "I just... I hope... Remember that I chose to do this. Remember that freedom is your inviolate right. Be free."

He tapped a few more buttons, and then shut the cell phone simulation off. It would continue to broadcast his countdown to them. Anyone stupid enough to stay close with that playing on all channels deserved what they were going to get.

The area around him darkened further.

He had five minutes now.

With a gesture, a gigantic stop watch manifested in front of him, tied to the now floating cell phone and matching the countdown for the last five minutes.

The last five minutes of his life.

He decided on a direction for 'down' and allowed an overstuffed recliner to pop into existence behind him. He took a seat, leaning back into the plush material and putting his feet up.

He could feel this universe closing in on him. From an infinity, it was down to the size of the solar system. It was dark now, the only light being shed by his own conscious will.

He took a long drag of his cigar, then manifested a full snifter of brandy in his other hand. About him, the dying universe began to play Flight of the Valkyries.

Malthus was down to the size of the sun now, as Lex took a sip from his snifter and observed another minute pass.

Lex smiled to himself as he felt the size of the space around him shrinking down to Jupiter-sized. For a manifested drink, it was as good as he could imagine it.

He'd had a good life. A well-filled one, certainly. Granted there had been regrets, but what life was free of those?

He really did wish he didn't have to die, but it was too late. Even if he tried to leave through the portal, the subsequent space-time shockwave from its collapse in his wake would catch up to him and blast him into unreality.

Better to die cleanly. Enjoying his creature comforts one last time. He doubted he'd even be conscious for the final moments. He was just so tired.

It really was finally done. He hummed along to the music, holding his cigar like a conductor's baton, allowing the smoke to swirl into patterns in the air before him.

It really had been a good life.

Malthus was the size of the Earth now and centered on Lex as the last few seconds approached. Lex would merely need to reach out with his will and snap the portal shut, trapping himself within a dying universe.

He closed his eyes and whispered aloud, "Goodbye."

O-O-O-O

In the universe beyond, the reactions to Lex's transmission had varied, but no one had been willing to risk staying close to Oa after such an empathic declaration. Everyone who could, attempted to clear out as quickly as possible.

Former foes helped one another. Vessels and individuals who moments ago had been firing on one another now fled as one. The fleet, Green Lanterns, Gold Lanterns... it hadn't mattered. They vacated the environs of Oa en masse. A mixed taskforce of Gold and Green Lanterns had wordlessly lifted the underground shelters beneath the Guardian Citadel to ensure the safety of the civilians. Miraculously, almost everyone had managed to evacuate, save for a single, unidentified ship that had flown directly into the danger zone.

The final second passed with a pregnant pause. Had Lex lied? The thought had passed through everyone's minds before Lex's soft, tired voice whispered to each of them personally, "Goodbye." His voice echoed throughout the universe, infinitely sad and weary, but seemingly without regret.

The frozen moment shattered in the sudden, spectacular shockwave that rippled through space. It exploded out from Oa. They could see the distorted image of the stars through the spherical wavefront, acting like a massive lens. Where the wave spread out from the spot on the planet where the Central Battery had been, the planet was pulverized, first breaking apart as though from a hammer blow, then the individual pieces shattering and dissolving into dust.

The unidentified ship had been too small to make out, but everyone's sensors registered its sudden and spectacularly abrupt disappearance seconds before. It had pounded a planet to dust, the ship had had no chance to survive.

Almost as quickly as it spread, defying the speed of light, it snapped back collapsing in on itself and drawing into the tiny unmanageable rift in space which swallowed everything in its immediate vicinity before it snapped shut as silently as it had opened.

The sudden snap came as an awakening to every sentient mind. A nameless pressure on them that seemed to suddenly lift with Oa's destruction. The threat had vanished, and even those who'd had no way of knowing just... knew. The Guardians were gone. The psychic weight of billions of years of draconian control and hidden oppression had lifted. Everyone was free. Lex had given a final goodbye and a final gift.

Freedom.

O-O-O-O

It was twelve hours later as Superman swept the scene. He stood at the prow of a damaged Thanagarian vessel that had given permission to be used as a base of operations for the Earthlings who had returned in the wake of Oa's destruction. Its crew had evacuated to another ship and the life support was at a low ebb, but it was enough for their purposes.

The bombardment of Earth had stopped abruptly. One moment, they were being hammered by an asteroid every few minutes, then suddenly... nothing. When they'd managed to make their way to the linear accelerator where the attacks had come from, there had been... nothing. The weapon was there, but no personnel and no evidence of where they had gone.

Despite the League's desire to investigate what had actually happened, Lex's goodbye had touched off demands from several governments that the League find out what had happened to him. The general feeling of good will towards Lex was not merely a global phenomenon, but a universal one.

If Lex's slide beacon had survived, they might have managed to return sooner, but with his loss, the secrets of intergalactic teleportation that didn't involve a Boom tube were lost once more. It was only through a wormhole opened by Hal Jordan, Parallax once more, that they had been able to make it back to Oan space that same day at all.

Superman's senses scoured the space that had once been occupied by Oa, but he could find... nothing. Not even dust, nor debris from its destruction. In fact the area seemed... smoothed over. As though there had never been anything there.

"Anything?" A deep voice asked from beside him.

"No." He replied, turning towards J'onn. "You?"

"Nothing." The Martian replied. "One would think with a world as old and as long occupied as Oa was would have left far more of a psychic footprint, but there is nothing. I cannot discern if there had ever been a world here, much less what happened to a single individual on it."

Superman crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. "I still can't believe Lex did this. I keep expecting him to step out from around the corner and tell me this was all part of a plan to kill me. Or rule the world. Or something."

"While it is true that he was a criminal mastermind, he truly and sincerely did wish to turn his life around." J'onn replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps those dark urges never truly went away, but I would like to think that he had found some measure of peace in his last moments."

The Kryptonian allowed a ghost of a smile to flit across his features. "I don't know if I could be so forgiving."

"To be fair, I was also not the one he was bedeviling on a regular basis." J'onn pointed out.

Superman smiled ruefully and looked back out the window. Given how blank the area of space had become, something was bothering him. He swept his gaze across the system, idly noting the former Green Lantern, now Gold Lantern planet, Mogo was in the process of moving into position to take over Oa's place in the system. It was a temporary measure to help gravitationally balance things out until everything had settled down. Superman really didn't want to think too much on Mogo's new moon. His size and power had apparently impressed Brimstone so much that it had decided to make itself into a satellite for the sentient planet. Strange as that was, it wasn't what was bothering him.

Life went on. Albeit life without the shadow of the Guardians hanging over it, he mused. For that, they had Lex to thank.

He glanced out the window once more and realized what had been bothering him. "Do you know why Lobo's parked at the edge of the system?"

J'onn replied, "He says that Lex owes him for something. He does not intend to leave until he can collect."

Batman slipped into view next to them. "Did you try explaining to him that Lex is gone? If not dead, then so far removed from this universe that he may as well be?"

J'onn nodded, "I did, but he has chosen to remain there."

Superman nodded. "Well... maybe he has his own way of mourning. Even a bloodthirsty thug like Lobo can have a sentimental streak."

"I doubt Lobo liked Luthor all that much," Batman replied with obvious distaste.

"Did you find anything?" J'onn asked, eager to move the topic away from the Czarnian.

"I've checked with everyone he had contact with and they confirm the timeline. The last few people he spoke with were Raker Qarrigat, the teddy bear, Sinestro, Oracle and John Stewart. He flew down to Oa. Set up the Rings with Sinestro and Stewart, then flew towards the Central Battery, where he vanished. An hour later, he sent out his last message. There aren't any further sightings of him after that point. All sensor readings indicate that his transmissions were coming from the Central Battery before it was destroyed."

"He's a betraitor!" A small sing-song voice declared from under Batman's cape.

At the frowns of the other two men, Batman produced the somewhat burnt teddy bear in the Manhunter outfit from under his arm. "It still has some useful intel. It claims that Lex's goodbye freed the Manhunters of their programming to obey the Guardians. I'm going to have Oracle dump its memory for analysis to be sure."

"Luthor said I ratted him out! I didn't!" It sing-songed, before Batman flicked a switch on its back, seeming to mute it, before he tucked it back under his cape.

Superman nodded, mildly bemused at the strangeness of the image of Batman holding a teddy bear. "So... we have peace now. If only for a while." He spoke, as much to distract himself to keep from laughing as much as for anything else.

Batman pulled his mask off, contemplating the blank space where Oa had been. "For a little while." His voice oddly hollow. "The Guardians are gone and things seem brighter now, but there's always greed. Always selfishness. Always cruelty. It's easy to blame everything on the Guardians, but the darkness was there to begin with. They just made it easier to come out."

J'onn murmured philosophically, "Even now others rush in to fill the void that the Guardians left behind. Eager to claim power for themselves, but for now, he has succeeded in making the universe a better place. This is a worthy thing."

"Even if it all goes back to business as usual tomorrow." Batman said grimly, tugging his mask back into place.

Superman shook his head and smiled sadly. "Even then. Lex managed to prove something. If even Lex Luthor could manage to redeem himself... to be a better man than he's been all his life, then there really is hope for everyone."

THE END


	26. Epilogue

**Inviolate**

**Epilogue**

**by Scriviner**

_All rights belong to owners, I make no claim to any of these chars._

Eve stared out the window. Strange patterns formed and unformed beyond the glass. Another storm, she mused. Unavoidable. She should have gotten used to them by now, but she still hadn't.

She held a steaming cup of something dark and strong in one hand. She ran her other hand through her hair and idly mused that it was getting a bit long. Finding a decent salon to get that dealt with was more complicated than she really wanted to think about. A lot of things had gotten more complicated the past few months. Since Oa and everything that had happened after.

She took a long sip of her drink and muttered. "This sucks."

Mercy came up behind her, dressed in a fuzzy pink robe that had originally been meant for a much shorter woman. She had fluffy bunny slippers on and slipped her arms around Eve's shoulders and nuzzled her neck. "I told you not to drink that crap."

"We're out of the regular coffee." Eve said leaning back into the taller woman. "I told you I should've done the shopping last time."

Mercy rolled her eyes. "That's what I said." She replied.

Eve took another sip and made a face. "This is actually worse than nothing. I am impressed and appalled."

"If it tastes so bad," Mercy said with a laugh, "Just dump it in the sink."

"I made the cup already," Eve said with a grimace. "I hate to waste it."

A hand snuck into their field of view and the cup was pulled away from her. A second mug of fragrant, well-steeped sweet tea was slid into her emptied hand. "Wha-" she began to say.

Lex smirked at them over the cup of horrible tasting recaff. Eve had to admit to herself that despite his multitude of near-brushes with death, he looked deliciously good. He'd put on a little weight since they'd started travelling, but most of it had been muscle. She grinned to herself wickedly at the thought that it was probably from the regular exercise he was getting now. The standard white jumpsuit that the ship had plenty of in stock fit him like a second skin, even with all the additional pockets and loops he'd added to the tough material. Good enough to eat, first thing in the morning. Life really was good. She glanced over to Mercy and realized that the redhead was probably thinking something similar.

Then Lex had to go and spoil it by opening his mouth. "Unlike you wimps, I actually like this crap."

"Where did you get the tea?" Eve asked suspiciously, not that she wouldn't drink it, but her inventory records showed they should have been out.

Mercy took a deep breath of the scent. "You've been holding out on us, haven't you?"

Lex chuckled, leaning against the bulkhead and took another drink, "I had a tin in my room. I'm not sure how it ended up there."

Mercy shook her head and said in a voice heavy with mock horror. "He's hoarding necessary supplies. We should have him walk the plank, Cap'n."

Eve nodded, getting into the spirit. "Aye, we ought."

"You realize, if you get rid of me, no one would be able to keep the Moonraker running," Lex replied airily.

Mercy made a dismissive gesture. "You just tell us that to make us think you're useful."

Eve put a finger to her chin and said with exaggerated thoughtfulness, "Well, you thought he was useful last night."

Mercy blushed crimson. "He was... distracting."

Lex waggled his eyebrows, "You loved it."

"You were tolerable." Mercy said, unable to hide her smile.

Eve laughed, reaching out to hug Lex. "I'm not sure how we ended up like this, but I'm glad we did."

Lex returned the embrace and grinned. "We ended up like this because someone couldn't follow orders."

Mercy sniffed. "I was too following orders as I recall."

Lex shook his head, "That's not how I remember it..."

O-O-O-O

Lex closed his eyes and whispered aloud, "Goodbye."

It seemed appropriate to do it right. This was his big finish. He stood up, allowing his seat, the cigar and his drink to vanish as he raised one hand before him, fingers in position to snap.

His suit was pressed and he had to admit to himself, he looked good.

His moment was perfect. He almost wished someone could see him do this.

At the precise moment that he snapped his fingers and the connection to the central battery was severed, a golden sphere manifested next to him. It was a hundred feet in diameter and completely and incongruously... there. He was certain that it couldn't possibly be a new Willworld. They couldn't manifest without a mind calling it into being. He was the only one there. He extended his senses once more and confirmed that he had indeed shut the link back to the Central Battery down completely and there were no minds within the now moon-sized parasite universe. The moment of closure had allowed a brief surge of energy back into Malthus. Not enough to bring the Guardians back, but more than sufficient to halt the collapse for just a few minutes more.

No minds... except his senses seemed to stop at the edge of the golden sphere.

It seemed to be taunting him with its presence. He hadn't expected his last moments would be spent dealing with a puzzle, but it was something to do while he waited for the lights to truly go out.

There was a sizzling 'pop' noise as the golden sphere vanished to reveal some sort of space plane. It had a blunt, vaguely aerodynamic body and was done in white with purple trim. The design was several years out of date, but he could just barely make out the writing on the nose. That just told him exactly who had arrived, even if his senses within Malthus hadn't picked up two very familiar minds now that the sphere was gone.

Lex stared. Unable to process or accept what he was seeing. Well, actually he could, he just did not want to.

A hatch just ahead of the stubby wings popped open and a rope ladder unrolled neatly down. Down the ladder, neatly dressed in her form-fitting white jumpsuit climbed down Mercy. Incongruously enough she was wearing her chauffer hat and her hair was tucked up neatly inside it. She looked unexpectedly glorious.

There was no real ground any more precisely, but Lex hadn't been in the mood to float and he was sharing orientation with the Moonraker and Mercy. The conscious thought of matching their orientation helped him gather his self-possession and allowed him to switch gears from delighted ogling to righteous indignation in record time.

"What are you doing here? Which part of 'keep her safe' was too difficult for you to understand?" Lex roared.

She sniffed, crossed her arms. "Which part of 'don't die' is too difficult for you?"

He scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to wipe clear the frustrated and twisted anger that was written on it. "I trapped myself in this place... to save the universe." He pounded his fist into his open palm at every word for emphasis, "To. Save. You. And. Eve. You being trapped in here. With. Me! That kind of invalidates what I was trying to do!"

Mercy gave him a cheeky grin. "So it's kind of a gift of the magi thing?"

"Will you please, not change the subject?" He groaned.

She patted his cheek cheerfully and replied, "Well, I'm not sure if you remember, Lex... but I really don't work for you. I was following my employer's orders."

"Where is-" Lex began to ask, when Eve showed herself.

She didn't use the ladder as Mercy did, she simply floated out of the door and into Lex's very surprised arms in a single gold-trailing bound. Lex knew he could've caught her gentle as a feather, mutable as the laws of physics were within Malthus, but he ended up turning the catch into a spin to bleed off her speed as she clung to his neck. A small, cynical part of his mind thought, Isn't this some sort of romantic movie cliche? The other parts of his mind that were enjoying the breathless hug Eve was giving him were telling that part to shut up.

"What are you doing here?" Lex asked when he'd finally managed to stop spinning. The question had escaped before he pulled back enough to get a good look at her. Golden hair, check. The rest of her outfit was considerably more remarkable. She was in a gold and black Gold Lantern uniform that clung to her like a second skin. Lex had seen her in business suits and no small number of casual 'lounging at home' outfits, but this was the first time he'd ever seen her in something that managed to cover her completely, while still showing to best effect every inch of her figure.

Eve for her part seemed to enjoy the staring. Her cheeks colored prettily and she even posed a little for him to give him a better look at her in the surprisingly comfortable outfit. She had something else in mind to say, but when she opened her mouth, she said, "You could've at least sprung for a diamond."

"Wait... what?"

Mercy chuckled and replied. "Usually when a guy gives a girl a ring, he tries for a little romance."

"And a diamond." Eve added helpfully.

"What are you talking about?" Lex asked genuinely baffled.

Mercy laughed at the expression on Lex's face and patted Eve's back. "I told you he hadn't thought of that at all."

Eve sighed and glanced over her shoulder at her taller friend, "You're right. The only way we're going to get a romantic bone in his body is if we have it surgically implanted."

"Still waiting for an explanation?" Lex muttered in annoyance.

Eve leaned in and kissed Lex's cheek. "I thought you were giving Mercy a ring for a specific reason."

Lex frowned, "Yes. So she could protect you better."

Mercy finally got her bubbling laughter under control and began to hum, "Dum-dum-dadum! Dum-dum-dadum!"

"Why are you humming the wedding ma- Oh!" Lex exclaimed as enlightenment finally dawned, "No! That's not why I sent her the ring!"

Eve's face was a portrait of mock disappointment. "I know that now. I was hoping for a June wedding. Mercy doesn't have a lot of other friends so I was hoping I'd get to be at least a bridesmaid!"

Mercy shook her head, "Maid of honor. No question."

"See?" Eve all but wailed, "Now there is no wedding."

"I... I... you just managed to completely derail me being mad at both of you."

"I know," Eve said, her voice suddenly normal as she patted him on the cheek in the same fond way Mercy did. "I could hear you being difficult and we probably don't have a lot of time."

Lex took a deep breath. "Well managed. You're correct. Although, why are you wearing the ring instead of Mercy?"

Mercy crossed her arms across her impressive chest and looked away mumbling.

"I don't think I heard that," Lex said.

"I couldn't figure out how to get it to work." She admitted, blushing almost as red as her hair.

Lex was unable to resist. "You couldn't get the ring... which is controlled by thought... to work."

Mercy glared at him. "Laugh and I will beat your head in with your own spine."

Eve said a little reprovingly, "That was a little cruel, Lex."

He smiled and impulsively gave each of them a kiss. "Sorry, sorry. I... well... welcome to Malthus. Collapsing universe." He looked around at the better lit sky, but could see it was darkening once more. The universe was roughly half Earth's Moon in size now. "We have about ten minutes before the whole thing completely implodes and smooshes us to quantum foam. Smoosh is a scientific term."

"That should be enough time for you, right?" Eve asked.

"I'm sorry, enough time for what?" Lex said with mild annoyance. Again, it was like no one had bothered to fill him in on half the conversation.

"To figure a way out of here." Eve replied.

"This was the plan?" Mercy boggled. "You said you had a plan. We just had to get to Lex!"

Eve nodded. "I do. The plan is... we're going to die if you don't come up with a way to save all of us, Lex." She smiled brightly.

Lex said gently, holding her by the shoulders. "Eve, I don't know if you caught my last message out, but I snapped the last link this place had to our universe. We're like a life raft adrift in the white hot gutters of creation... and to extend the metaphor, the life raft is leaking very badly. If I had some way to save myself before, don't you think I would have taken it?"

Eve nodded conceding his point, but responded confidently. "That's true, but earlier you were far less motivated to find an escape."

"I-" Lex began, but stopped, not able to respond. It's true. Perhaps there had been another way out, but he hadn't considered them as deeply as he might have, he admitted to himself.

"That situation has now changed. Please Lex. You've always come through for me in the past." She said softly.

He looked at her uncertainly.

She nodded, as though he had agreed with her. "Furthermore, you now have available assets which you can use..."

Mercy pointed out unnecessarily, "There's us. And the Moonraker."

"And this." Eve held up her closed fist, showing the golden ring with its lantern design. "If this works like a Green Lantern ring, then it should be able to do anything. Including get us out of this, if you can figure out something."

Lex stared at the glittering golden ring as though fascinated. It wasn't quite glowing at the moment, but the sheen and color of the material were fascinating. Lex wondered if the others were as polished.

She continued, but Lex was hardly listening anymore. "In case you don't though... at least you won't die alone." She smiled softly. Mercy grumpily nodded agreement.

Then Lex's breath caught as an idea occurred. One that hadn't been considered before the arrival of his unexpected company.

"Okay... well done. We might live through this yet." Lex said with a grin. He turned to the Moonraker and raised a hand, visualizing the blueprints for the necessary changes in his head.

As the women watched, the unfolding and refolding. Transforming itself in elaborate motions reminiscent of metal origami.

"I'm going to need a few minutes for this..." Lex said. He gestured behind him and a pair of deck chairs with a table bearing mai-tais popped into existence next to Mercy and Eve.

Mercy eyed the chairs and drinks for a moment before reclining in one deck chair and sipping her drink. Eve shrugged and took a seat, but hadn't touched her drink.

Mercy finished her mai-tai then asked slowly, "Lex... if you can make anything you want pop up here... why didn't you just make some sort of escape thing yourself?"

Lex replied absently, his concentration still on his work. "First, I'm not sure if anything I manifest in here is going to continue to exist once I leave. So the last thing I want is for whatever beautifully crafted escape ship I create vanishing the moment I reenter our universe. Especially since I would have had no way to confirm where I was liable to show up. I could've ended up in deep space. Or in the heart of a star. Last place I should be naked in."

Eve nodded. "But the ship actually exists in a way that will stay... so you're just changing its substance, right?"

Lex nodded. "Yes." Lex replied. "I'm not pulling anything out of the vacuum. Using one hundred percent recycled components."

Mercy looked skeptical, "So you were stuck because you didn't have any stuff to work with?"

"No. That and I severed the last tie this universe has with ours." Lex smirked as the final panels on the former interstellar space plane folded, shifted and slid their way into newer configurations. "Even with the Moonraker we'd still be stuck here if it weren't for the ring. The ring is tied to the new Central Battery we have set up on Earth."

"Where on Earth?" Mercy asked.

"California." Lex replied. "The Coast City monument."

Eve nodded. "So what do I need to do?"

Lex turned back to them even as a ramp unfolded from the belly of the now redesigned space plane. It had gone from stubby to sleek while retaining the general color scheme. The tiny hatch on the side was gone. Replaced by a full loading bay underneath the vehicle.

"Long story short... the link your ring has back to our reality is tenuous compared to the ones that used to be here." Lex said as he ushered them into the new Moonraker. "So we can't tug on it directly to home in on our reality, because if we do that it will snap and we are left wandering the multiverse with no route home. Instead we're going to have to try and trace it back. Like following a thread through a maze."

The women were agog at the changes to their ship. Lex led them up. Up a second deck that hadn't been there before, they came to the bridge. Lex took one of the seats and gestured to the other two to take their seats. "I've got the engineering and pilot's station. Eve gets navigation. Mercy, you have weapons and co-pilot."

They all slid into their seats. Mercy smirked as she cracked her knuckles. Eve looked at her own station which seemed to have in addition to a touch screen display also included a lantern-symbol shaped depression.

Lex pointed it out, "Press your ring to that when we're ready to transition to another reality. The slide engines will try to match us to the next closest reality to bring us back home."

Mercy asked, "How many hops is this going to take?"

"No way to tell." Lex said. "We've got no reference points out here besides the ring. We could just be a single universe away. It could be hundreds. The important part is that this will take us out of the collapsing universe and certain death."

Eve looked slightly excited as she pressed the ring into the panel. "We could end up anywhere?"

"We could end up in places we couldn't even conceive of." Lex replied with a chuckle.

"Let's go, then." Eve said, letting a burst of will through the ring. Lights flickered on and their ship seemed to drop out from beneath them and the graying universe transformed to blood-red.

The flare of gold from her ring faded and her station stopped glowing.

Mercy scowled, "What happens if the ring runs out of charge?"

"The ship's got a universal convertor that runs the ship and lets her ring charge at her station." Lex replied absently, his attention taken up by the view. He stared into the crimson infinity before them. "Transition space. The Bleed. It was just a theory..."

He flicked the external cameras on, but the screens remained blank. "Damn. Nothing's recording. I'm guessing that's conceptual space out there. Our brains are interpreting it to something we can comprehend, but none of the equipment can-"

"Are we supposed to be moving?" Mercy asked suddenly, looking at her panel.

Lex stopped short and glanced down at the instrumentation. "Yes. We are on our way."

"It's beautiful." Eve murmured breathlessly. She got up from her seat and hugged Lex. "I'd never thought to see things like this before I met you."

Mercy stood and crossed her arms. "Okay, so I guess the 'trust in Lex' plan did work out after all," she said grudgingly.

Eve playfully stuck her tongue out at the redhead. "Told you."

Mercy stretched, moving closer to the two, "Lex, you did count for the possibility that we would be stuck on this thing for a long time, right? Weeks or months?"

"This hop will probably take about nine hours, by the looks of things." Lex pulled free from Eve's embrace for a moment to reply, "But, yes. We've all got individual staterooms-"

"Beds?" Mercy asked, in a slow, thoughtful tone that Eve recognized.

"King sized in each room." Lex replied. "Why do you ask?"

Mercy shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance, "There's a bit of tradition we probably should indulge in. No big deal."

Eve looked confused, "Tradition?"

Mercy grinned wolfishly, putting her arms around the other two, "You know... when someone saves your life... that kind of deserves a reward."

Lex stared. "What are you talking-?"

Eve caught on before Lex did. "Lex... darling? You talk too much." With that she kissed him into silence.

Mercy nodded approvingly. "We're only going to need the one bed, I think."

Lex was stunned as Mercy leaned in to give him a kiss of her own, while Eve grinned.

O-O-O-O

"How bad is that storm out there right now?" Mercy asked, taking a glance out the window.

Eve held her ring finger up and pulled up a golden glowing reading from her navigation station. "About a factor 4. Not great, but not bad. Our little trail of breadcrumbs is in good shape."

Lex said, "That's why I was looking for you guys. It looks like the storm's going to crank up to a factor 8 in the next few hours. I was wondering if you wanted to duck out of the Bleed for a bit to wait it out."

Mercy brightened up, "Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"Next universe we're coming up on looks like a close parallel to ours, including having an Earth."

Eve nodded, "Sounds good. Maybe they'll have some coffee available for us."

"I wonder if this one will have a Lex." Mercy chimed in speculatively.

Lex shuddered. "The last couple of places that had a Lex Luthor weren't exactly hospitable."

Eve tutted, "They were perfectly hospitable until they realized you weren't going to share dimensional travel with them."

Mercy made a face, "Too hospitable. That last one was really sleazy."

Eve frowned, "But so's ours."

"Hey!"

"No, ours is kind of adorably clueless." Mercy said with a nod. "Well... maybe a little sleazy."

Lex narrowed his eyes slightly, but Eve defused the situation with a laugh and a well-timed kiss.

Lex shrugged then cleared his throat, "If we're quite done? I've got the Moonraker ready to transition into real space anytime."

Eve grinned, her eyes aglow with excitement. "Let's see what we can find today."


End file.
